


Atonement

by Flamefyre



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 21:34:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4580895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamefyre/pseuds/Flamefyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reno and Rude's relationship takes a slight turn after Reno destroys the Sector 7 slums. Might not make sense if you haven't seen Advent Children. Rated for adult situations, language, and possibly violence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The clock glowed green, the only light in the room aside from the street lamps that shone weakly through the drawn curtains.

Reno glanced at the glowing numbers. 12:06 in the morning. Less than eight hours before he had to wake up for work, and yet he was sitting on the couch in his apartment, a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the coffee table in front of him, his handgun clutched in one sweaty hand.

He was such a coward.  _You can't even pull the trigger, can you, Red?_  Reaching for the whiskey bottle, Reno took a long pull, feeling his head spin with the strength of the drink. His body relaxed further, the buzzing feeling in his head wrapping around him with familiar comfort.

The destruction had been terrible. It was one thing to press a button and watch an entire sector get crushed when you couldn't see the people it affected. It was another to go down and see what you had done, the lives you had ruined, the broken bodies of families—and  _gods_ , the children—lying amidst the rubble. Reno scratched at the red stubble that now shadowed his face, took a deep breath, and pressed the gun's barrel to his temple hard enough to leave an indent. He could feel his hand trembling, his index finger slipping on the trigger. Pathetically, he hoped he would accidentally pull it.

There was a quiet knock at his door, and Reno jumped slightly, pulling the gun a few inches from his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, hating whoever was on the other side of the door for interrupting when he'd almost raked together the courage. Reno got unsteadily to his feet, flipping back the lock with his nimble fingers and reaching for the knob. With luck, it would be someone coming to kill him to save him the trouble.

He yanked open the door, his body slumping in disappointment at the sight of Rude's dark face.

* * *

Reno looked pissed to see him, Rude noticed. But beyond that, he looked haunted. His face was gaunt, his aqua eyes burning with a feverish light from deep in his face and the tattoos that curved across his cheekbones stood out starkly against his skin, which was even paler than usual. Most shocking of all was the stubble that fuzzed his cheeks and chin. It wasn't like Reno to let himself go.

"What are you doing here, partner?" the redhead rasped. It sounded like he had sandpaper in his throat.

Rude cleared his own throat and adjusted his tie. "I was on my way home…I just—" He broke off when he caught a glimpse of the handgun dangling from Reno's left hand. "Just…wanted to see how you were doing," he finished in a murmur, his sharp eyes raking over Reno's form.

Reno snorted and tried to close the door, which proved difficult when there was an ox of a man in the way. "Fuck outta here, man. Why wouldn't I be doing okay?" He turned to go back to the couch. "Just go."

Rude's hand shot out, fisting around his collar. His other hand closed on Reno's chin in a bruising grip, turning his partner's head to the side where, in the weak light from the outside lighting, he could see the imprint of a gun muzzle.

"What," Rude said quietly, shoving Reno back into his apartment and advancing on him, "do you think you're doing?"

Reno sank down on the couch again, looking at his hands, still clutched around the dark metal of his pistol, a sharp contrast to his white skin. "I…" The words caught in his throat, and he looked up at Rude looming over him, the older Turk's dark face still expressionless, yet exuding a foreboding aura. "I don't know," Reno whispered, shifting his gaze away again. His hands were shaking again, and Rude knelt in front of him, gently prying the weapon from his numb fingers. "You didn't see them, man." He was still speaking softly, barely audible even to Rude's sharp ears. "When Rufus ordered me down the Sector 7 after I dropped the plate, I knew it would suck ass." He laughed humorlessly. "I just didn't know it would suck quite so much." He covered his face with his hands, leaning back on the couch. "All those people, Rude, just…gone." His voice broke a little on the last word.

Rude reached out, laying a hand on one of his partner's shoulders. "Reno, you were—"

"I know!" the redhead snapped, looking up sharply. "I was just following orders. Well, fuck that, Rude. That only works for so long. The people we kill, I'm fine with it. I'm a Turk. It's what I'm made to do. But you didn't see those people, caught under rubble, dying slowly. The  _kids_ , man. Fucking  _kids_. Their heads were smashed, their bones were broken, and it was all because of me. It doesn't fucking matter if I was following orders or not. It was still  _me!_ " He was shouting now, oblivious to the late hour and his neighbors who were probably trying to sleep. He grabbed Rude's hand that was still holding his gun and pressed the muzzle to his forehead. "Fucking do it, Rude. I can't do it by myself."

Rude's jaw tightened at the sight of his own hand holding a gun to his partner's head, and he tried to pull away from Reno's feverish grip. The redhead clutched tighter at his hand, and in a flash, Rude was jabbing at a pressure point that had Reno's entire arm throbbing sharply and then going numb, his fingers loosening uselessly. Rude set the gun on the coffee table, and then Reno's good hand was grabbing at his blazer, and his head was bowing, his forehead pressing to the bigger Turk's wide chest.

"Just do it," he said again. " _Please_." The last word caught on a sob in his throat.

Rude sat down on the couch next to his partner, not knowing what to do. He had never quite seen Reno fall apart like this. The redhead was cheerful, cocky, and a bit lazy, but he didn't cry, he didn't beg, and he never had this tone of dead hopelessness. Rude settled for awkwardly patting his partner's shoulder every once in a while. Reno wasn't crying, but his breath came in ragged gasps, as though he was having an asthma attack.

"Reno," Rude murmured. "It'll be okay." It clearly  _wasn't_  okay, though, and he had no idea how to fix it. He wasn't good at comforting people, had never been good at it, and yet here was Reno gripping his blazer in white-knuckled hands, his head bowed, his shoulders shaking, silently asking him for help. "Breathe," Rude told him in his deep, calming voice, smoothing a hand over his partner's slender back. "Just breathe, Reno. It's going to be okay."

Ever so slowly, the tension drained from Reno's hunched shoulders, his hands loosened their death grip, and he slumped against Rude's chest, his breath even again. Too even. Rude muttered a curse to himself when he realized Reno had fallen asleep. Carefully, the big Turk shifted his partner so the redhead was lying on the other end of the couch, his head pillowed on the armrest. Rude smoothed his shirt and blazer, grimacing when his hand touched a slimy wet spot. The little asshole had drooled on him.

He settled back on the couch, reaching for the nearly empty bottle of whiskey on the coffee table and taking a sip, wincing at the burn in his throat as it went down. The clock now read 1:37 am.

* * *

Reno's first thought as he stirred awake was wondering why he was curled in a c-shape on his couch in yesterday's clothes. His back was stiff and aching from the position.

Reno's second thought was that his head was pounding something awful, and that he really,  _really_  had to puke. He stumbled from the couch the bathroom, falling to his knees in front of the toilet just in time as the little food and lots of drink he'd had yesterday expelled itself violently.

The sound of someone vomiting woke Rude. He too was confused at first, wondering why he was in Reno's apartment listening to someone puke their guts out, but when the night's events flooded back to him, he stood up with a groan, his neck aching from falling asleep in a sitting position. He went to check on Reno, only to find his partner on his knees in front of the toilet, forehead resting on the rim. His hair had come unbound and was falling around his face as he heaved. Rude gathered it into one hand and knelt beside the redhead, holding his sweat-slicked head steady. Reno vomited again before wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and lowering himself to the ground with a groan, pressing his hot cheek to the cold tile floor. Rude rolled his eyes at the dramatic display, stepping over Reno to fill a glass with water from the sink.

"I'm never drinking again," Reno moaned as Rude pulled him into a sitting position and handed him the water.

"You say that every time," Rude told him with a small smile. He pressed a hand to Reno's forehead briefly, grimacing at the slick feeling of sweat. "I can't tell if you're sick or just hungover."

"Sick in the head," Reno murmured, leaning back against the cabinet and closing his eyes, and Rude had nothing to say to that.

"Come on," he said instead, pulling Reno to his feet. "It's eight o'clock. Get in the shower, change your clothes, and I'll drive us to work."

Reno flushed the toilet and rinsed out his mouth, easing off his blazer and unbuttoning his shirt. "No rest for the wicked, huh, partner?" he asked with a smirk, but there wasn't much humor in his words.

Rude shifted uncomfortably, both from Reno's bitter words and the fact that he was now unbuttoning his trousers, his delicate abdominal muscles rippling against his scarred, snow white skin. "I'll…let you get ready," the bigger man said, somewhat flustered. "You can manage?"

Reno dropped his pants with no sexual innuendo or lewd comment of any sort, which told Rude he was still feeling trashed. "I'll be fine," the redhead told him, turning on the shower. Rude turned to leave, pausing when Reno said his name. He looked back, focusing on Reno's face instead of everything down below. There was a shadow of gratitude in his blue-green eyes. "Last night," he began. "I just…" He trailed off.

Rude pushed his ever-present shades up on his nose. "Don't mention it," he said, knowing how difficult it was for Reno to even begin to open up about anything. Reno flashed him a shaky grin before stepping under the shower spray.

Rude busied himself in the kitchen making coffee and toast, knowing Reno would need his caffeine boost more than ever after the amount of alcohol he'd consumed the night before. He'd just finished eating when Reno stumbled out of the bathroom, his hair damp and nothing but a towel around his narrow hips. He disappeared into the bedroom, reappearing soon after in a Turk uniform. His shirt was still untucked and half-open, but Rude relaxed slightly. This was the Reno he knew. The redhead eased himself into one of the bar stools and raked his hands through his hair, pulling it into a messy ponytail. Rude slid a steaming mug over to him and he croaked out his thanks, shying away from the plate of toast that followed.

"Do I look like I can keep food down, partner?" Reno slid the plate back, but Rude was firm.

"You need to eat something, Reno."

Reno made a face and nibbled on one of the pieces of toast, barely managing half of one before he caught sight of the clock. "Shit," he muttered, gulping down the coffee and scalding his throat. "Let's go."

They didn't talk about what had happened the night before for three years.

 


	2. Chapter 2

_Healin Lodge, 3 years later_

Although it was humiliating being tricked by a prepubescent-looking boy, Reno didn't begrudge Cloud. After all, he had saved the Planet, so the redhead mashed down his pride, but that didn't keep him from opening his mouth. In retrospect, he felt a bit bad that he'd driven Cloud away, especially considering how badly they needed him. He glanced over at Rude from his sprawled position on the couch. The big man was looking out the window, his hands in his pockets.

"Now we just gotta find Elena and the director," Reno told his partner, linking his hands behind his head. "The other employees give you any leads?"

"No," Rude said. "Nothing yet."

"A lot of Shinra's employees actually returned to work after Meteor," Reno mused, half to himself. "Now that's dedication."

"Well, those left alive have a lot to atone for," Rude answered, immediately regretting the words as they left his mouth. He somehow felt Reno stiffen, even though he was across the room.

"Two years already," the redhead murmured, ignoring his partner's poor choice of words. "Seems a lot longer than that. What a nightmare, huh?" He shifted a bit on the couch. "The world was nearly obliterated, and we were the obliterators." He sat up a bit, throwing an arm over the back of the couch. "Seriously, though. How are we ever supposed to atone for something like that?"

Rude was silent for a beat, hearing the  _I_  instead of the  _we_  in Reno's words. His scalp prickled uncomfortably. This was the closest they had ever come to talking about the strange bond that had formed between them that night so long ago. Even if they didn't discuss it directly, Rude knew they were both thinking it. Before he could come up with any sort of answer, Reno spoke again.

"Too bad the director's not around, you know?" he said softly, staring at a point on the floor. Rude finally turned from the window and went over to the couch, sitting on the other end a couple feet away. Once again, he remembered that night with a twist of pain in his stomach. Reno's face was smooth now, still pale, but not the unhealthy paleness of three years ago, and his eyes were more sad than desperate, but Rude felt the emotion fairly rolling off of him in the way that only ever happened around him. Reno would never have let anyone else see him even halfway vulnerable.

"Elena too," Rude added, leaning his arms on his knees.

"Hope they're alive," was all Reno said, his voice soft, still staring at nothing.

"They are," Rude rumbled. "Tseng's just like the president. They're kinda like cats. Nine lives, ya know?" He liked to think he was getting better with this comforting thing as he aged, and indeed, Reno flashed him a grin, moving to lie down on the couch again.

"You got that right!" He propped his feet up on Rude's thigh, earning a grumble from the bigger man. The soles of his heavy boots were caked with dried mud, and when Rude shoved his feet off onto the ground, they left a streak of dirt on his dark trousers.

"Jackass," Rude muttered. "Three years ago you drooled on me, now you do this?"

Reno's head shot up, expression guarded, and once again Rude bit his tongue.  _For someone so quiet you have a damn big mouth, asshole_ , he thought to himself. He sighed.

"I didn't mean—" He broke off as Reno's spidery fingers locked around his wrist. For a few minutes they stared at each other. There was a question in Reno's eyes, but Rude couldn't tell exactly what it was. Reno was shifting closer to him, his eyebrows pulled together, and the bigger man felt sweat starting to drip down the back of his neck. He shook Reno's hand off of his wrist and jumped to his feet.

"Wha—" Reno's exclamation was cut short as they both caught sight of the black smoke pouring into the room from the cracks around the door, rolling towards them with a sinister twist. A voice slipped through, deep and sensual.

" _Found ya."_

Briefly, Rude was grateful for being interrupted, because he had no idea how to wrap his head around what had happened—or not happened. But when the silver-haired man felled both him and his partner with a few well-placed blows, he thought that maybe Reno's light touch on his arm had affected them both more than it should have. They were lying there paralyzed, for Shiva's sake, all because Kadaj had hit a few pressure points that they'd foolishly left open. Painful tingling was spreading through Rude's arms and legs, but they wouldn't obey him. He gritted his teeth, hearing Reno groaning and Kadaj speaking with Rufus—the  _president_ , Gaia-be-damned, who they were supposed to be protecting. Rude felt an unexpected rush of irrational anger at Reno for throwing them both off like that.

* * *

Rufus beckoned to his Turks as Kadaj swept out of the lodge. In his other hand he clutched the bloodied ID cards of Tseng and Elena, his knuckles white. Rude and Reno staggered to their feet.

"Go find Strife," Rufus ordered.

"You sure that's a good idea, boss man?" Reno asked. "He sped outta here pretty damn quick."

"That was mostly your fault," Rufus snapped, then collected himself. "Just…try again. We need him."

"Sure thing," Reno said, rolling his shoulders with a popping sound. "Damn, that bastard was fast. You gonna be okay on your own, boss?"

Rufus gave a cold smile. "If Kadaj wanted me dead then he would have killed me long before now. I have no doubt he'll be back, but I will be safe for now. Go."

They left, making their way to the AVALANCHE girl's bar where Strife supposedly lived. They turned onto the street where 7th Heaven was and paused at the small crowd gathered. Reno put an unnecessary finger to his lips and they moved closer to the throng.

"Did you see how many they had?" a man was saying, his voice anxious and strained. "Some were from the streets I'm sure, but how do we know ours weren't taken too?"

Rude frowned, but he and Reno were here on orders, so they started walking towards the bar again.

"You gonna be happy to see Lockheart again, Rude?" Reno asked, shooting him a sly smile. Rude groaned.

"I can't believe you won't let that go. You're like a dog with a bone, Reno. It was a tiny crush, and it was years ago. That's it." His voice was flat.

"Sure, sure," Reno teased. "But I noticed you haven't tried to fuck  _me_  yet, and so you gotta be hung up on  _something_."

Rude felt irritation gather into a headache at his temples. "Maybe I'm just not into men," he bit out. Reno gave another one of his dangerous smiles, and caught Rude by the shoulder, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

"I'll tell you a secret, partner," he breathed. "You talk a little more when you're shitfaced. So I happen to know you swing every which way." He pulled back and smirked smugly, and the gesture angered Rude enough to reach out and shove his partner into the alley wall. "Hey," Reno laughed, rubbing his shoulder.

"We're here for a reason," Rude said shortly. "Come on."  _I'm never drinking around him again._  They stepped into the cool quiet of Tifa's bar, looking around. It was eerily quiet.

"Kids are never this quiet," Reno murmured. "There were kids here, right?"

Rude nodded, and they drew their weapons just in case. He signaled silently to Reno and they split ways, checking each room for inhabitants.

"Clear!" came Reno's voice from the upstairs, and Rude echoed the word, lowering his weapon as Reno thumped down to the first floor. "You think they're just out?" the redhead asked, scratching his head.

"Not Strife," Rude said. "Rufus said he'd been distant, lately. Let's check the church. Intel we have says he's been staying there."

"Then why didn't we go there first?" Reno asked, annoyed. Rude shook his head.

"I thought maybe he'd wised up by now and stopped being a dick about things."

"Strife? No way. It'll be a cold day in hell before he loosens up."

* * *

They took a cab to the church, unwilling to waste more time, and sure enough, telltale blond spikes shone in the sunlight in the middle of the flowers that blanketed the ground.

"Something's wrong," Reno said, breaking into a jog. Rude followed, and they looked down at the couple curled in the flowers. "Oh, never mind. They just came here to—"

"No, wait," Rude interrupted. He touched the leaves of some of the plants, rubbing his fingers together. A viscous black fluid came off on the leather of his gloves. "Stigma."

"She's been tossed around, too," Reno said from where he was kneeling next to Tifa's prone form. "Look at her face." He stood, circling the two unconscious bodies and leaning down to hoist Cloud over one of his shoulders with a grunt. "You get her," he told Rude, nodding to the girl.

Rude glared behind his shades, knowing Reno was still poking fun at him for his previous crush, but he obeyed, lifting Tifa easily.

They had to walk back, since no cab driver in his right mind would give a ride to someone whose arm was dripping the slimy telltale liquid that came with Geostigma. Reno was careful not to let it touch his skin, even though he was nearly positive it couldn't be transmitted that way. After all, he'd spent all that time around Rufus and hadn't gotten ill yet.

Back at the bar they toted their burdens to one of the bedrooms. Rude laid Tifa down gently on one of the beds, and Reno dumped Cloud unceremoniously onto the other one, then turned towards the door. The blond man groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. He caught sight of Tifa on the bed opposite him and stood, looking down at her.

"You know, you're pretty heavy," Reno said from the doorway. Cloud turned in surprise, and Rude pushed his sunglasses up on his nose.

"Weren't there some kids living with you?" the bald man asked.

"Cause they ain't here," Reno finished. Cloud looked down, his eyes dull.

"You don't care?" Rude asked, shifting a little in anger.

"I just…" Cloud turned to look at Tifa, his expression defeated.

Reno exhaled. "You're a real handful," he told Cloud, turning to leave. He and Rude stepped into the street. "Off the streets," Reno muttered to himself, thinking.

"What?"

"You know, what that guy was saying before. Something about 'some of them were off the streets.' You think he was talking about kids?"

Rude frowned. "Maybe."

"Hey!" Reno called out to a passerby. The man turned, his expression nervous when he caught sight of the Turk uniform.

"Can I…help you?" he asked hesitantly.

Reno flashed his Shinra ID. "You know who I am?" The man gulped and nodded. "Then answer me this: were a bunch of kids taken from around here today?"

"Y—yes, how did you know?" the man gasped. "Two men dressed in black with silver hair rounded up a bunch of the street kids in trucks."

Reno jerked his head to dismiss the man, then turned to Rude. The man was already pulling out his phone.

"I need everything you have on Kadaj's gang," he was telling headquarters. He listened for a moment. "That's all? You're sure? Fine. Send a scout and keep me updated." He hung up. "There's not much intel on them, but it seems they're holing up in the Forgotten City. I'd bet that's where they took the kids."

They spoke to a few more people, but no one had any new information, but after a couple hours Rude's phone beeped with a new message. He read it, then looked at Reno and nodded. "They're at the Forgotten City. Cissnei just saw them."

"Let's go tell Strife, then, and hope he gets his head outta his ass," Reno sighed. Night was falling, but they made their way back to the bar and into the bedroom. Tifa was awake now, curled on the bed with Cloud standing next to her. It looked like they were deep in conversation, but when the Turks walked through the door, the girl's head shot up.

"Did you find them?" Her voice was frantic.

"No," Reno answered. "Only a witness. Kadaj's gang took the kids."

"Where are they?" Cloud asked.

"They're at their base now," Rude told him. "The Forgotten City."

"Go," Cloud told them.

Reno raised a red brow. "Excuse me?" His voice was cold, and Rude winced. Orders given to the redhead by anyone other than Rufus or Tseng were usually ignored, often with an added punch to the face.

"I have to talk to Rufus," Cloud said, almost to himself.

"Stop running!" Tifa cried. "I know. Even if you find the kids, you might not be able to help them. Maybe something will happen that can never unhappen, and that scares you, doesn't it? But you need to think about  _now_ , really take it in." She slapped a hand to the bedspread. "Look at you! You think you've got it so damn hard! Well you hate being alone, so let people in. Sure you might not answer the phone, but I don't see you throwing it away either!"

Through the whole exchange Reno was shifting from foot to foot, uncomfortable witnessing what sounded like a private issue. He made to leave, but Rude caught him by the collar. He grumbled, but turned back to the couple arguing on the bed.

"You go. The base is aaaall yours," he drawled. With a little wave over one shoulder, he and Rude left the room. "Where to now, partner?" Reno asked as they stepped out onto the dark street. His thin white hands were cupped around his lighter, trying to get a spark to jump to the cigarette clenched between his teeth.

"Back to Healin, for now," Rude answered, handing Reno his own lighter.

"Thanks, man. Damn thing runs out of fuel faster than an airship."

"Maybe if you didn't smoke so much," Rude muttered. Reno blew a smoke ring in his direction.

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't smoke," he teased.

"True."

"Or drink, or keep my shirt untucked, or make sexual innuendos about everything, or refuse to wear a tie, or—"

"Run your mouth all the damn time?"

Reno smiled at him. "You got it, partner." In the dim light from the street lamps, his skin glowed a pearly white, and his white shirt looked almost translucent, the grooves of his chest and stomach muscles showing through mutedly. Rude felt his face grow warm and looked away, thankful it was dim enough to hide his blush.

"Come on," he told Reno, starting to walk.  _This has got to stop._


	3. Chapter 3

"You're  _fucking_  kidding me!" Reno screeched. "Fuck being the good guys! I didn't sign up for this shit!"

"You're a Turk," Rude grunted, out of breath. "Of course you signed up for it."

"Do you  _see_ that!?" Reno screamed at him as they ran, jabbing a finger in the air as a roar echoed, jarring their bones. "Fucking Bahamut-Sin! They summoned fucking BAHAMUT-SIN!"

"Is that why you hit me in the face?" Rude snapped. His nose still hurt.

"Get over it, partner! I've hit you in worse places bef—shit!" Reno stopped running and twisted around to look. "The kids." What little color that had been in his face drained faster than Rude could blink. "Rude, the fucking kids."

Rude didn't have to ask to know what his partner was thinking about. They dashed back a few paces, and Rude scooped up two of the children, one under each arm. Reno danced around awkwardly for a second before hoisting a blond boy into his arms. The child fought, growling, and Reno spit curses into his face. Rude rolled his eyes. Reno would make a fabulous father someday.

"Ow! You little shit!" Reno growled as the boy shoved two fingers up his nostrils. He ripped the small arm away from his nose and followed Rude with his squirming bundle. "I swear to Gaia, I'll fuck you up if I live through this! You little bastard!"

An explosion shook the ground and the Turks were blasted off their feet, landing several feet away flat on their stomachs. Thankfully, the kids had rolled free before the impact and were staggering to their feet.

Reno groaned, holding his head as he pushed himself up on one arm. A soft, deadly chuckle sounded behind him, and he froze.

"Are we having fun?" Yazoo cooed.

"The time of my life!" Reno shot back, flipping to his feet and striking out at Yazoo with a back kick. The remnant laughed, blocking his foot and leaping back a couple feet.

"Such good daddy material," he said, his voice still soft and deadly, jerking a chin towards the tiny blond devil a few feet away. "No one's gonna want to raise kids of their own with such a foul-mouthed man, Turk."

Reno caught his breath, surprised enough to laugh. He caught Yazoo's fist as it came towards him, wincing at the impact.  _Fuck, he's strong_. He jerked the other man's arm forward, headbutting the silver-haired remnant hard in the face and knocking him back a couple yards. "Good thing I'm GAYER THAN A PICNIC BASKET!" he bellowed after him.

Rude blocked a blow from Loz, shaking his head at his partner's behavior. The day Reno learned to hold his tongue would be a blessed day indeed.

Loz was raining blows down on him, and Rude gritted his teeth, blocking some and taking more hits on his already aching body. The remnant smirked at him, then spun and kicked hard into his stomach.

Rude gasped, the wind knocked out of him as he tumbled backwards onto his back, his shades flying off his face. He was just pushing himself to his feet when Reno landed next to him in a crouch, panting, Rude's sunglasses crunching under his feet. Rude glared at him, but kept his mouth shut, pulling his spare pair from his blazer. They both straightened, brushing dirt from their clothes, bracing themselves for the next attack as the two remnants closed in on them.

"Mother Schmother," Reno was muttering. "It's Jenova's friggin' head."

"Hey!" Yazoo cried in a wounded voice. "I will not have you refer to Mother that way!"

"You meanie," Loz sniffed.

"Our apologies," Rude said absently, settling his shades on his face.

"Yeah yeah, your ma's cool," Reno added, then paused. "What the hell am I sayin'?" They charged again, matching punch for punch and kick for kick, pushing the other two back until Loz sent Reno flying into Rude and they both went down again, skidding down the street. Rude gasped in pain as the harsh asphalt burned through his blazer and shirt and scraped his back raw. Reno was sprawled on top of him, protected from the road by his partner's broad body.

"Get off," Rude wheezed. With his adrenaline up there was no telling how his body would react to the close proximity, no matter how much he told it to shut up and fight. They scrambled to their feet. Reno's nose was bloodied and his lip was split, but he ignored the throbbing pain. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, shaking off the blood that gathered. He hand-signaled Rude and they moved to stand back-to-back, Rude hissing in a breath at the sting that accompanied Reno's blazer brushing against the road rash on his back.

Reno glanced quickly over to Bahamut-Sin. "Yo, Rude," he said with a grin. "Take a look at AVALANCHE, remastered!" Rude spared a look and grunted, ears perking up as the roar of an engine cut the air through the sounds of battle.

"Strife," he said.

"It's about damn time," Reno growled. "I'm not mako-enhanced enough to deal with this shit." He brought up his arms quickly to field a kick from Yazoo, the force of it making his teeth ache.

Something was moving rapidly at the edge of Rude's vision. He chanced a look away from his opponents. Had it just been Strife slaying Bahamut-Sin? No, it was—

"Reno!" The redhead looked up at Rude's cry and they both watched in horror as Rufus's body tumbled through the air.

"Rufus!" Reno cried. Before either of them could move a muscle, nets seemed to appear in midair, catching the young president safely. "Who…" Kadaj rushed past them, clutching a black box, and Yazoo and Loz broke away from their opponents and followed. Reno tsked. "Cowards!" he yelled after them as the remnants mounted their bikes and sped off in a cloud of dust. Not two seconds had passed before Cloud was pursuing them on Fenrir, zooming by the Turks so closely that the resulting wind tugged at their clothes.

"Sorry we're late," came Tseng's deep voice. Reno turned in surprise and relief to see his director and Elena helping Rufus down from the suspended nets.

"Better late than never," Elena said, smiling. She and Tseng were both bandaged heavily, and Tseng's hair was loosed from its customary ponytail.

"Nine lives, eh?" Reno smirked. Elena looked puzzled. "Never mind," the redhead muttered.

"Get to the choppers and go after them," Rufus cut in, holding the arm that was rotting with the Stigma. His sawed-off shotgun lay at his feet. "I'll be fine here with Tseng and Elena."

"Sure thing, boss man," said Reno, pulling on Rude's sleeve. "Come on, partner."

* * *

They became airborne, Reno piloting the chopper and Rude searching for the remnants.

"There," he shouted to Reno over the buffeting air. Reno swooped lower, opening fire on the bridge down below. He felt something whiz past him, and the whole damn bridge collapsed right in front of his eyes.

"What the fuck, Rude? Where did you get a damn rocket launcher?" he yelled. The words were lost in the wind, and Yazoo launching himself off the bridge and into Rude's chest prevented him from answering anyway. "Rude!" Reno cried as his partner disappeared out the side door of the chopper. His hands flew to the flying controls. They buzzed angrily, and the joystick came away in his hand. "That fucking asshole and his fucking gun," Reno bit out. The chopper was fishtailing now, making his stomach churn. Reno leapt up, wildly and foolishly looking around the cabin for some way to steer. "No, no, don't  _do_  this to me," he muttered, leaning out of the open side. His heart was hammering, panic worming its way into his chest. He hadn't seen Rude's body fall, but…

"Hey, Rude, you're all right," came a drawling voice as Rude hauled himself up on one of the chopper's wheels. His muscles were screaming with the effort.

"Yeah, I'm just peachy," he gritted out, all he had time to say before the chopper, still swinging out of control, clipped a nearby tower, sending them both plummeting to the road. They lay there for a minute, stunned.

"No way we should've survived that," Reno groaned. A line dropped down between them before Rude could answer, and they looked up to see Elena waving furiously at them from Tseng's chopper. "What are they doing here?"

"Hey guys!" she shrieked over the whirring of the rotors. Rude grabbed on with one arm and caught Reno around the chest with the other, drawing a startled cry from his partner. The winch turned, slowly drawing them up to the waiting vehicle. Rude gritted his teeth, sweat beading his bald head. Reno wasn't heavy, but supporting both their weight with one arm while injured was no mean feat. Reno noticed the tension in Rude's face and wormed a hand free, reaching up and gripping the cord himself to take some of the strain off his partner, fighting off the constricting feeling of Rude's thick arm around his chest. They reached the chopper and Rude gave a mighty heave, hoisting Reno up. The redhead scrambled over the edge and leaned over to offer his hand, pulling Rude up after him with a grunt of effort.

"Yo, let us down over there, in front of them," Reno yelled to Tseng.

"Why?" the Wutaiian shouted back, but he obeyed his second-in-command, turning the chopper in a wide arc.

"You'll see!" There was a smirk in Reno's voice. Rude saw his eyes cut towards the explosives that lay in the corner of the cabin and immediately knew what his partner was thinking.

Tseng dropped them off a couple hundred yards between where Kadaj was fleeing and Cloud and the other remnants were pursuing, right at the open mouth of a tunnel that yawned over the wide highway. Reno tossed one of the bombs to Rude. As the chopper veered away, he turned to the older Turk.

"Hey, partner. This thing, uh, got any  _bite_  to it?" He held out the explosive.

Rude smirked. "Shinra technology at its finest."

"Oh, so you made this."

"If nothing else, it's…flashy."

"Oh, good," Reno purred, his pale lips twitching.

"You love it, I know," Rude told him. Reno grinned.

"Looks like today, we're clockin' out early."

They waited a few beats and Fenrir shot out of the tunnel, streaking between them after Kadaj. The Turks caught one glimpse of Cloud's tight, determined face and then he was gone, his black coat billowing behind him.

"Set it now!" Reno yelled over the roar of the engine, but Rude was already wiring the timer to the bombs.

"It's set. Go!" They ran, Reno signaling furiously to the chopper that was still hovering close by. Tseng brought the bird in close and they leapt aboard.

"Go, go, go!" Reno was screaming at Tseng, and for once the director didn't berate him for insubordination, just started to turn the chopper. Reno made a frustrated noise. "You ain't quick enough! Get out!" he yelled at Tseng over the whirring motor, ripping off his boss's flight headphones and hauling him out of the pilot's seat. Tseng was shoved bodily at Rude, a murderous look on his usually calm features. Rude caught the Wutaiian man and gave him an apologetic shrug as Reno settled into the pilot's seat, his fingers flying over buttons and levers as he jerked the helicopter around roughly.

"He is the best," Rude shouted in Tseng's ear.

"He's the best at pissing me off!" Tseng yelled back, and even with his multitude of bandages, he managed to look threatening. Rude winced, knowing Reno would pay for his rough treatment of their director later. For now, his partner was effortlessly guiding them away from the blasting zone, quick and efficient in his movements. Rude checked his watch.

"Any second now," he called. The words had barely left his lips when he heard the rumbling of the explosion and the chopper rocked violently from the shockwaves. Reno cursed, fighting for control, and Elena gave a shriek. Everyone but Reno grabbed on to each other as the floor bucked under their feet and Reno clenched his teeth, his arms rigid as he clutched the flight controls. The chopper veered, pulling free from the power of the explosion, and steadied again. Reno let out a shaky breath and laughed nervously.

"Close one, huh?"

No one bothered to answer. Tseng looked mollified; he knew that they would have died had he still been in the pilot's seat. Reno glanced back to make sure everyone was still aboard and then steered them back towards the middle of Edge.

They touched down on the helipad of one of the skyscrapers that ringed the city square and rode the elevator down to ground level.

"What'd ya do with the prez?" Reno asked Tseng.

Tseng winced. "He told us to leave him and go after you." They stepped out of the lift and through the building's double doors.

The square was a shambles, with bodies littering the cracked asphalt. Rude's eyes swept over them, looking for Rufus.

Reno's sharp eyes found him first. "There!" The young president was slumped against an alley wall, his white clothing stark against the dirty black asphalt. Tseng started to lift him, his face tight with pain from the pulling on his wounds. Rude moved to help, looping Rufus's arm around his broad shoulders.

Rain started to spatter the ground, steam rising from the pavement with the acrid smell of hot tar. Elena made a startled noise and pointed at the hand where Rufus's Geostigma peeked out from his sleeve.

The rotting area shimmered green as the rain hit it, melting away and leaving clean, smooth, healthy skin in its place.

"Oh," Tseng said, his voice full of wonder, and in a rush, he was unbuttoning Rufus's coat and pulling it off his shoulders.

Reno cackled. "Is it really the time ta screw your boss, Tseng? We're all watchin'."

"Quiet, Reno," Tseng snapped. With Rufus's tired help, he got the president bare to the waist, and Reno fell into a sober silence at the glimpse of how far the Stigma had spread. Swaths of skin were mottled a blackish brown, but like the spot on Rufus's hand, as the rain touched the afflicted areas, they turned a shimmering green and melted away. Rufus gave a little sigh of relief and untangled himself from the two Turks holding him.

"I'm fine now," he told them as regally as he could while half naked. "Let's return to headquarters. Tseng, tomorrow have your uninjured Turks assist in rebuilding the city. Contact Strife, too." Tseng dipped his head in acknowledgment.

Rude shook his head as Rufus walked towards the chopper. Only their president could manage to act so dismissive after nearly dying. He started to follow, pausing when Tseng, Elena, and Reno all gasped simultaneously. "What?"

"Look at your fuckin' back, partner. Looks like a side of fresh-cut beef," Reno told him, ever the wordsmith.

"It's fine," Rude said shortly, though in truth, the adrenaline was finally wearing off and it was starting to twinge. "Let's just go back."

* * *

All through the ride back to Healin the hurt grew and every bump made him grit his teeth, but Rude managed to keep the pain from his face until he was back in his room. Once there, he painfully stripped off his tattered jacket with a hiss. He unbuttoned his shirt and started to remove it, but the scraped skin on his back screamed and he bit back a yell of pain.

Someone kicked at his door. "Yo, partner. Let me in," came Reno's voice. Rude opened the door and Reno slipped into the room, his arms full. Onto the bed he dumped an armful of bandages, clean cloths, and disinfectant. "Sit down," he told Rude in what qualified as a gentle voice for someone like Reno.

"I'm fine, Reno," the older man said, still standing.

"Partner, you know how damn stubborn I am. Now sit your ass down or I'm stealing every pair of sunglasses you own and throwin' them in the incinerator." There was the old Reno.

With a dirty look from behind his threatened shades, Rude sat with his back to Reno. Thin white hands reached around to his front and slid his ruined shirt off his shoulders and down his arms. Painfully, Rude shook his hands free of the cuffs. Reno wet one of the cloths he'd brought with him in the bathroom sink and started sponging dried blood from Rude's shoulders and back. For once, he was quiet, which made Rude slightly uncomfortable. When Reno was quiet, he was thinking seriously about something.

The redhead sat back and looked at Rude's newly cleaned back. "Might need to get these tats touched up after this heals, partner." The scrapes nearly obliterated the body of the enormous dragon that normally twisted over Rude's back.

"Don't feel deep enough," Rude grunted back. "Fuck, watch it, Reno!" The redhead had poured disinfectant over the scrapes with no warning, and it felt like his skin was melting off in a wash of fire. Reno didn't answer, only started taping bandages over the large abrasions. "Reno?"

"You fuckin' scared the shit out of me, Rude," Reno snapped suddenly, his hands trembling as he slapped on another bandage. Rude gave a loud grunt of pain, which, predictably, Reno ignored.

"By getting road rash?" Rude retorted. "I've survived worse, Reno. It's not even life-threatening."

"Not the road rash!" Reno almost yelled back. "Not the fucking road rash, you asshole! When that piece of shit remnant knocked you out of the chopper, I—" He stopped and swallowed hard, horrified to hear his voice shaking with residual fear. "I thought you were  _gone_ , man."

Rude desperately wanted to turn and look at Reno's face, but he knew the redhead wouldn't appreciate it. "Takes a lot more than that to kill me," he murmured.

"I know. I just…I've always been able to  _see_  it before. This time, you were just… _whoosh_. Gone."

"I'm sorry," Rude quietly offered, not knowing what else to say. He felt something against his right shoulder, which was mostly uninjured, and he stiffened slightly. Reno was resting his forehead gently against Rude's shoulder blade, taking deep, shuddering breaths to calm down. "Breathe," Rude reminded him.

"I am breathing," Reno gritted, but his breaths were still raspy, as though he was having trouble drawing oxygen from them.

"It's going to be okay," Rude continued, ignoring him. "Stop panicking, take deep breaths, slowly." He had no idea what he was saying, but it was better than Reno having a panic attack, and it seemed to work. Gradually, the redhead's breathing evened out, but he kept his head against Rude's shoulder. The bigger man felt himself starting to sweat, wishing his partner would move, or at the very least stop acting so…un-Reno-like.

"That night," Reno started. "Three years ago…I never thanked you for—"

"Don't," Rude interrupted. The emotions running high in the room were thickening the air, causing a strange feeling that had long been forgotten to stir in his chest. "You would have done the same for me."

Reno laughed bitterly. "You wouldn't have been actin' like that in the first place, partner." He finally pulled back a little and finished taping on the bandages, moving to sit on the edge of the bed next to Rude. He took a swig of the disinfectant, which turned out to be vodka, and made a face, then passed the bottle to Rude.

"You don't know that," Rude said quietly. He took a mouthful of vodka, then another, passing the bottle back.

"Don't give me that," Reno shot back. "You woulda dropped that damned plate and then gone home, eaten dinner, and slept like a baby." The words were out before he could swallow them.

Rude stiffened. "Excuse me?"

Reno gulped, knowing he'd made a bad mistake. "I-I didn't mean it like that, man, honest. I just—" He fiddled with the bottle in his hands, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

Rude turned to him, taking off his shades. His eyes were angry, the brows drawn tight. Reno felt a little prickle that might have been fear at the back of his neck. "You think I could have killed all those people, all those children, and been  _fine_  with it? I may be quiet, Reno, and I may not show my feelings often, but no human could walk away from something like that. You know me better than anyone, and _that's_  what you think of me?" His voice had risen alarmingly in volume, rumbling in his chest like an angry animal.

"No, it's not! My hand to Gaia, I got no idea why I said that." Reno rubbed a hand over his face, gulping more vodka down nervously. "Look, Rude, I know I'm a damn good Turk. Why else would Tseng make me his second when I piss him off so much? But if Tseng ever knew I nearly blew my brains out over killing a bunch of people, well, I wouldn't  _have_  to blow my brains out. And you're—you might feel the things I feel, but you don't do the stupid shit I do."

Rude was quiet for a minute. He hated thinking of that night, and when Reno put words to what he'd been about to do in that dark living room, it made things worse. "We're Turks, Reno," he said finally. "But we're still human. Every night, before I can go to sleep, I see the faces of all the people I've shot, stabbed, beaten to death, what have you. It doesn't matter that most of them deserved it. Everyone has different ways of dealing with the shit we have to do."

Amazingly, Reno was quiet. "I never knew that," he said at last. "Gods, there's so many things I don't know about you." He propped his elbows on his knees and rested his chin in one hand. "Bein' a Turk is the only damn thing I was ever any good at," he mused. "Sometimes I forget I'm a shitty friend." He took another few swigs of vodka, the liquor burning down his throat.

Rude chuckled. "You're good at drinking."

Reno laughed through his nose. "Yeah, that too."

"And I'm a pretty simple guy. You think you might not know much about me, but really, there's not much more to know. And you know more than anyone else."

Reno leaned back on his arms, handing off the bottle. He felt warmth seeping into his legs like it did whenever he was getting tipsy. "I guess we all have secrets we don't wanna share," he said quietly, making Rude wonder what secrets Reno didn't feel like telling. Then Reno smiled. "For someone so quiet, you always know how to make me feel better, partner," he said with a little laugh. "How do you do that?"

Rude looked at him, his dark eyes traveling the lanky body of the younger Turk. When he got to Reno's delicate-boned face, the thin, soft-looking lips and the high cheekbones slashed with red, he remembered he'd taken off his shades and looked away before Reno could comment on his staring. He shrugged.

"Time and practice, I guess."

Reno took the bottle again, tipping it back. Rude watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed several times. He really was good at drinking. If Rude had tried to chug straight vodka, he'd have puked. Reno's hand as he gave the bottle to Rude again was the slightest bit unsteady, betraying his tipsiness.

"How's your back?" the redhead asked, his voice slurring a bit.

"Getting number," Rude answered, swigging more alcohol.

"Booze is good for that." Reno yawned widely, scooting up to stretch out on the bed. "Let's go out an' celebrate when ev'ryone's better," he murmured, closing his eyes.

Rude started to lean back himself, then remembered and twisted to lie on his stomach. He opened his mouth to tell Reno to go back to his own room, but what came out instead was, "I'd miss you, y'know."

"Hm?" Reno's voice was sleepy.

"If you blew your brains out. I'd miss you."

Reno gave a little sigh, then murmured, "Yeah. When I go, you'll be right there beside me. We'll go together."

They slept, pointedly (on Rude's part, at least) not touching, but each taking comfort from the other's presence.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Life went on. Shinra assisted the former AVALANCHE members with putting the pieces of Edge back together, and Rufus finally purchased an office building in the city rather than continue basing his operations out of Healin. His Turks were greatly pleased, finally able to lease apartments in Edge now that the remnants had been dealt with. And true to his word, when Rude's back had healed and Elena and Tseng were back to their full strength, Reno made them all promise to go out drinking that weekend, which was how Rude found himself uncomfortably squeezed between Reno and Cissnei at a large table in the dimly-lit Seventh Heaven. Reno was telling a story about fucking a guy in the bathroom of a club in Midgar and getting discovered by the man's boyfriend, and Rude was growing distinctly more irritated with how wriggly his partner was at the moment.

"And so I'm standin' there, caught with my fuckin' pants down,  _literally_ , and this guy's boyfriend—who's a damn ugly fucker, by the way—is just  _staring_  at me buried in his boyfriend's ass—"

"Ew, Reno, you don't have to give us the details," Elena interrupted, waving her hands at him, but she and Cissnei were giggling.

"No, listen," the redhead continued. "So the guy chooses  _right then_ , when his boy had just flung open the bathroom door to find me fuckin' him, he chooses then to come, and—"

"That's enough, Reno," Tseng said loudly. "Don't sully the women's ears with your stories of debauchery."

Reno grinned at him, his cheeks flushed a little from alcohol. "Ya sure I'm not just makin' ya hard, boss man?"

Before Tseng could kill his partner, Rude shoved Reno's face back in his drink to silence him. It did the trick, but unfortunately also made him even more handsy, and Rude stiffened when he felt Reno's hand gliding up his thigh. He was wedged against Cissnei and had nowhere to run, so Rude figured he had three options: let Reno do what he wanted and hope he didn't go too far, break his hand, or excuse himself to the bathroom. He chose the bathroom.

He hadn't drunk much that night. One of them had to stay sober, and it was usually either him or Tseng, but Tseng had deserved a chance to loosen his tie, so to speak, so Rude was the sober one tonight. Not that he minded, since he was careful about how much he drank ever since Reno had teased him about what he may or may not have said while under the influence. The only downside was that it made a drunk Reno that much harder to deal with. Rude splashed some water on his face, trying to forget the feeling of Reno's long, spidery fingers as they traced their way up his leg.

"You okay, partner?" came a low voice, and looked up to see the very man he'd just been thinking about, leaning against the bathroom door in his loose, lazy way, hands in pockets. Rude nodded, rinsing his hands in the tap while Reno did his business at the nearby urinal. "I think Tseng and Elena are having a thing, ya know," the redhead said over his shoulder, pitching his voice a little over the sound of peeing and running water. "Have you seen how they've been acting?"

"Tseng wouldn't," Rude pointed out as Reno finished and zipped up. "He takes his job too seriously." He was heading towards the door, fully intent on leaving Reno to his own devices when the redhead was on him in a flash, pushing him against the bathroom wall.

"I know someone else who takes their job too seriously," Reno purred, rubbing himself along Rude's body like a cat. His shirt was open more than usual, the hard lines of his chest stark and glowing in the dim light of the bathroom. "You should really learn to let go, partner." His lips found Rude's neck, nipping the tendon there before licking a stripe up to his jawline.

Rude stiffened, and to his horror, felt himself begin to harden. Reno's hands started to drift low and Rude forced himself to move, clamping his hands around his partner's upper arms and hauling him away from his neck. "Stop."

Reno wriggled in his grip a little, but Rude was immovable, like a tank. "C'mon," he said when he realized he couldn't get free. "Don'tcha want me to rock your world?" His lips curved up in a smirk.

Rude pushed him away—not gently, but not as hard as he could have—and opened the bathroom door. "I'm not interested, Reno." He went back to his seat, leaving his partner flushed and unsteady, staring after him.

"Reno okay?" Elena asked him when he slid back into the booth next to Cissnei. Rude nodded. "He's drunk off his ass," she continued.

"Reno doesn't half-ass things," Rude affirmed.

"Except his reports," Tseng muttered, taking a sip of his drink. "I'm not giving him the day off because he's hungover. Make sure he comes in, Rude."

Rude nodded as the subject of their musings stumbled back over, half-falling on his lap. The big Turk merely pushed him off, watching out of the corner of his eye as Reno's lips curved around the rim of his whiskey glass and remembering how they'd felt—so briefly—biting at his neck. He didn't realize he was squeezing his own glass until it shattered, forcing shards deep into his palm. Everyone jumped, and Rude bit out a curse at the pain, embarrassed.

"You okay?" asked Cissnei, handing him a handkerchief. It was soaked in seconds.

"Don't worry about it," came a voice. Tifa had stopped by the table to see if they needed a refill. "Happens all the time." She paused. "Well, glasses break all the time. Not too many people squeeze them into powder. Come on to the back and I'll bandage you up."

In the back room, Tifa sat him down and pulled out a first-aid kit, picking the biggest pieces of glass out of his hand with tweezers. "So what's up?" she asked lightly, head bent over her task. "It's not like you to lose control like that."

Rude opened his mouth to make an excuse, then closed it again. "It's Reno," he said finally, somehow finding it easier to tell her than to even admit it to himself. "He's…irritating me."

"How so?" She didn't seemed surprised he was opening up to her, but then again, Tifa's sweetness had that effect on people, and she knew it. It was part of what made her such a good bartender.

"I…don't know."

She eyed him. "Really," she said flatly, clearly not believing him. "He's flirting with you, isn't he?"

Rude shifted a little, and she laughed. "Reno even flirts with me, and I know full well he's gay. He's incorrigible."

He leaned back against the wall, wincing as she dug the tweezers deep. "Yeah."

"So? Are you mad because you don't like him like that, or you do?"

Rude was quiet for a while. "When you're a Turk," he said after a while, "relationships get in the way. They make you do a shitty job."

Tifa stopped in the middle of wrapping a bandage around his hand. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say," she said simply. "Granted, you don't say much, but you always struck me as smarter than that." She resumed wrapping the bandage. "Cloud used to think similarly, and the only thing it made him was miserable." Finishing, Tifa stood, planting her hands on her hips. "I never thought I'd say this, but even Turks deserve to be happy, Rude."

Rude looked down, his jaw tight. Tifa's words had stirred memories he preferred to forget, though she couldn't have known it. She was a sweet girl and he could remember when he still crushed on her, but she didn't know what it was like to be a Turk. He muttered his thanks and left to return to his table, where the others were getting ready to leave.

"I'm not paying for Reno's," Tseng was saying. "He drank more than everyone else combined."

"You stingy ass," Reno grumbled, his words slurred, but he fumbled his wallet out of his pocket, slapping some gil down on the table. "See if I invite you out next time."

"I'll weep from sorrow, I'm sure," Tseng said tonelessly as they left the bar, piling out onto the dark street. Everyone was reasonably steady but Reno, who slipped in a puddle and knocked into Cissnei. Both of them tumbled to the ground, the girl letting out an angry squawk as Reno sprawled on top of her.

"Oh, come on, Ciss! I didn't mean to grab your boob! You know I'm not into that!" Rude heard Reno saying and he stumbled to his feet. Tseng pulled Cissnei to her feet.

"Rude, make sure he gets home safely," the Wutaiian said with a sigh.

Something gave. "I'm not his babysitter," Rude snapped, his voice tight. For the second time that night, everyone stared at him, and he grimaced.

"I know that," Tseng said finally, his voice chilly. "But you live in the same apartment complex, so logically, you'll go there together."

Rude grumbled under his breath but grabbed Reno none too gently by the collar and hauled him unceremoniously away, not bothering with a farewell. He was feeling uncharacteristically mutinous at the moment.

Fending off Reno's wandering hands and drunken words, Rude managed to half-carry, half drag the redhead to their apartment complex and up three flights of stairs, until they reached his front door. Rude dug his hand into Reno's pocket, earning an anticipated dirty innuendo, but he ignored his partner's babbling as he fished around for the apartment key. He unlocked the door and practically shoved Reno inside. Normally he was gracious enough to leave the other man a glass of water on his bedside table and at least make sure he made it to his bed, but Rude was in no such charitable mood at the moment.

He left Reno to his own devices, confident the redhead would at least live until the next day, and stalked up one more floor to his own apartment. As he fumbled the key into the lock, Rude closed his eyes, trying to force himself to calm down. He stepped inside, shutting the door and leaning against it, memories of his partner's suggestive touches doing nothing to calm his thumping heart.

Rude let out a low groan, almost wishing for the days when they were at war, whether it was Sephiroth, AVALANCHE, the remnants, what have you. War and fighting made sense to him. He knew his way around Reno when they were fighting for their lives, trusted no one else more than his partner to have his back. This peace time…Rude shook his head. He hated it. It dredged up memories that he'd worked hard to leave behind, and stirred up feelings he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Reno was beautiful when he was fighting, and Rude knew it, loved to watch him move through battle like a snake. But feelings and emotions running high in wartime he attributed to adrenaline, or the simple knowledge that they would most likely die soon. It was when those feelings started to bleed over into peaceful times such as now that he got worried. And the bald-faced  _need_  that was coursing through him right that moment, making his hands shake and his cock hard in his pants, well, that scared him most of all.

Rude bit down on his lip hard enough to make it bleed as he opened his pants in a rush and took himself in his hand, one of the few vices he allowed himself as a Turk. Relationships were messy, they fucked with his head, but his hand was familiar, knew just where to touch and stroke to have him trembling with need. He rubbed a thumb over the head, inhaling sharply at the spike of pleasure. He tried not to think of Reno, of his pale snowy skin and hard planes of muscle, contrasted with his vivid red hair, his slow, easy smirk and his bright, expressive eyes. He tried not to, but as always, the other man wormed his way into Rude's thoughts as he stroked himself, his breath coming in quiet pants. When he came, it was with a rush and a quiver, doubled over and gasping, nerves fizzling with pleasure. Rude caught his breath and wiped his hand clean, muttering a quiet curse.

 


	5. Chapter 5

True to his word to Tseng, although it set his teeth on edge, Rude knocked on Reno's apartment door that morning slightly earlier than he normally stopped by to pick him up for work. Several long moments passed, and Rude heard several crashes and bouts of cursing before the door was yanked open to reveal Reno, half-dressed, hair disheveled.

"D'you have to knock so loudly?" the redhead snapped, holding his head. "I'll be ready in a few."

Rude waited for his partner to finish dressing. "You make it to your bed last night?" he asked as they began the short walk to headquarters.

"Nah, I woke up on the floor," Reno told him, somewhat grumpily, stretching his stiff back. "You picked a hell of a night not to get me to my bed, partner. Feels like a chocobo used my back for a racing track."

"I was tired," Rude defended. "It's not my job to baby you."

"Yeah, yeah," Reno yawned. "Ya keep up this pissy attitude I'll start to think ya don't like me anymore, partner."

"Just restless," Rude murmured.

Reno looked down, his bright lashes stark against his cheek. "I get that. Seems like there ain't much use for Turks now that most of the fighting's done." They reached headquarters, stepping into the elevator to ride up to their office. Reno punched the tenth floor button, quieter than usual due to his tender head. He didn't answer Elena's cheerful morning greeting, only made a beeline for the coffee pot.

Tseng stuck his head out of his office. "Good, you're all here. Come into my office; I have something to discuss."

Reno grumbled but obeyed, taking the coffee pot with him. Rude and Elena stood in front of Tseng's desk politely, but Reno merely started to pour himself cup after cup of coffee and gulp down the scalding liquid at an alarming rate until the pot was nearly empty and Tseng was glaring at him, his hand twitching a little next to his own empty mug.

"Tomorrow night, the president is having a charity gala," the director told them. "We'll all be working security."

Reno snorted a bit. "Never thought we'd be working a charity gig," he said with a grin.

Tseng's lips twitched imperceptibly. "Be that as it may, there are, without a doubt, those who still believe Shinra means the planet harm. Be on your guard."

They nodded, filing out of the office. Reno was about to go brew more coffee when Tseng called him back. "Reno, a moment."

"Yeah, boss man?"

Tseng folded his hands beneath his chin, his dark eyes calculating. "This is a formal occasion, Reno. When you report for duty tomorrow night, I will expect your shirt to be buttoned, tucked in, and for you to be wearing a tie. Is that clear?"

Reno swallowed. "That ain't really necessary, is it? I been wearin' my trademark sloppy uniform for years, boss."

Tseng's eyebrows drew tight. "Shinra is turning over a new leaf, Reno. I've given up trying to make you wear your uniform properly for everyday tasks, but this is a black tie gala. You  _will_  do as I've ordered." The venom in Tseng's voice shut down any more complaints from Reno. He just snapped his mouth shut and nodded tightly before stalking back to the office he shared with Rude. Any good mood (which, being hungover, there wasn't much of in the first place) had dissipated.

He flung himself down in his chair, immediately regretting it as the action made his head pound. Reno went to take a gulp of the remaining coffee in his mug, but his hand was shaking so badly it slopped all over his chest.

"Fuck!" the redhead howled. "That fucking burns, man!"

Rude looked over from his own desk. "What's eating you?"

"Tseng's making me wear a fucking tie tomorrow, I gotta tuck in my shirt,  _and_  button it up!" Reno growled as he scrubbed at this coffee-stained shirt.

Rude blinked at him. Reno was dramatic, but this was over the top. "Is that really so bad?" he asked with a frown.

Reno glared at him. "It is for me," he said petulantly.

Rude raised his eyebrows, choosing to not remark on his partner's childishness. He went back to work, long years of practice allowing him to concentrate through Reno's swearing and general loudness.

* * *

The next night, the Turks assembled sharply at seven o'clock in Rufus's office.

"Where's Reno?" Elena asked, and Tseng frowned. Reno might have been lazy and irritating, but he never skipped work. The director was opening his mouth to say something when the subject of their conversation sauntered in.

Rude was moderately surprised at how Reno looked. In the ten years they had been partners, he had never seen Reno wear the proper Turk uniform. Now, the redhead's shirt was tucked into his trousers and it was fully buttoned, and the standard-issue black tie was knotted sloppily around his neck. What surprised Rude the most, though, was how drawn and pale Reno looked, and the slight frown on his face. His shoulders were stiff and tense.

"Sorry, boss man. I, uh, couldn't figure out how to tie this thing."

Tseng reached over, untying his tie and efficiently re-knotting it properly. "You cleaned up all right," the Wutaiian said, with more kindness than usual.

Reno glared. He glared through the limo ride to the venue, and he glared quietly, which everyone noticed and thought was strange. Several times Tseng and Elena asked if he was all right, but he shrugged them off, saying he was fine. Rude simply studied him, and Rufus was too busy going over his speech to pay any mind.

They arrived amid flashes from camera lenses and mobs of people. Tseng escorted Rufus and the other three spread out slightly, sharp eyes scanning the crowds for any signs of trouble. Once inside, Tseng placed them at strategic points around the venue, not far from Rufus, who had commanded the attention of the packed room from the podium. Tseng himself stood behind the president's left shoulder, dark eyes never resting.

Rude crossed his arms at his post, studying the crowds beyond his shades. Through the earpieces they were all wearing, Cissnei and the other Turks patrolling kept them updated on movement on the rest of the floor.

"All clear for now," came the auburn-haired girl's sweet voice as Rufus began speaking. The Turks tuned out his words, knowing from experience that surveying a crowd took one's full concentration.

"I see something," came the voice of a Turk through the earpiece, several minutes later. Rude thought it sounded like Liliana, but he couldn't be sure.

"What?" he said into his own device. "And give me your ID code."

"Code 749," came Liliana's crackling voice. "And it's the elevator shaft. It's—" She broke off with a little cry, and Rude's head snapped up. He caught Reno's eye from across the room and knew the redhead had heard it too.

"Orders, Tseng?" came Reno's smooth voice through the earpiece.

Rude could see Tseng hesitate. "Hold your positions," the man said finally. "Cissnei, see if you can spare someone to cover Liliana's position and check out the situation. It's unlikely that—" He too broke off, and Rude saw his director's piercing eyes zeroing in on something across the great hall.

"And we, at Shinra, upholding the—" Rufus was interrupted as he was tackled unceremoniously to the ground by his head Turk right as a popping sound echoed through the air. Blood spurted and there were screams from the crowd as Rude, Reno, and Elena fought their way through to their president's side.

Rufus's face was white, but one look showed Reno that the blood wasn't coming from him. Tseng had pushed the president up behind the podium and was crouching by him, pistol drawn and a circle of blood growing on his back.

"Tseng!" Elena cried.

"It's fine," the director said through gritted teeth. "The bullet lodged in the muscle in my shoulder. I'll be fine." Despite the words, his lips were white with pain. "Elena, help me get Rufus to the car. Reno, Rude, go after the sniper." They hesitated, and he roared, "Now! He's getting away!"

Drawing their weapons, Rude and Reno ran for the stairs. "Ciss?" Reno gasped. "Ciss, what's the situation up there?"

"I'm not sure!" came Cissnei's voice through their earpieces. She was breathing hard. "It looks like they came up one of the elevator shafts. One of them was under maintenance." They followed her directions as she guided them verbally through the corridors until they reached the sniper's spot.

"Of course he's gone," Reno panted. "My bet is he's long gone since he failed."

Rude didn't answer. He was crouched on the floor, studying something.

"What's up, partner?"

Rude just pointed. Reno crouched down too, running a finger over the scratches on the hardwood flooring.

"What's SX mean?" The letters were intricate and intertwined, but no less clear.

"No idea."

Reno got to his feet with a sigh. "Let's get back to the limo. Ain't no one her anymore." They stepped into the elevator and Rude punched the button for the ground floor.

For what felt like the thousandth time, Reno tugged at his collar as the lift descended. He was still breathing hard from the run and his chest felt tight, like no oxygen was getting through. Reno swallowed, breath coming faster as dark spots started to dance in front of his eyes. His heart pounded and he could feel it in his temples, his body screaming at him that there wasn't any air to breathe. It was like someone had their hands around his neck, squeezing, squeezing, and he was gasping, trying to rip the hands away as his knees buckled.

Rude heard his partner's breathing speed up and turned in time to see Reno collapse. He caught the redhead, dropping his weapon as he pulled the emergency stop and lowered the other man to the ground. Reno's face was bone white, his eyes wide, blank, and panicked, and his hands were clawing at his throat. Rude was alarmed, wondering briefly if there was some magic afoot, but then remembered Reno's penchant for panic attacks. Although he was unsure what had brought this one on, Rude nevertheless checked his partner's vitals, then cupped his face in his hands.

"Reno," the dark Turk said urgently. "You need to breathe. Nothing is wrong, just slow down and keep taking long, slow breaths."

Reno's hands continued to rake at his neck, and he managed to choke out a few words. "I can't—Rude—fuck—Ifrit help me I can't  _fucking_  breathe!" He was tearing at his shirt and chest.

With practiced fingers Rude untied Reno's tie and ran his hand down the redhead's chest, popping the buttons free so his partner's heaving torso was exposed. His hand lingered over Reno's wildly beating heart.

"Breathe, Reno. Calm down, everything's all right." Reno's eyes locked with Rude's through his sunglasses and slowly started to focus again, and Rude could see that he was struggling to do as he'd said. "I'm right here," Rude murmured, uncharacteristically gentle as he stroked the skin above Reno's heart a little.

Slowly, Reno drew in a long, shuddering breath, his eyes finally focusing completely. He sat up slowly, bracing an arm on his knee and leaning his forehead against it. Rude's hand slipped from his chest, but the big Turk kept a hand at Reno's back to steady him. "Okay?" Rude asked. Reno just continued to breathe slowly, using his free hand to tug his shirt free from his pants. Rude heard him swear softly.

"I told you the tie would be a problem, man," Reno said quietly. "Ain'tcha ever wonder why I dress like this?" He gestured to his now-open shirt, untucked and less restricting.

"Figured it was just you pissing off the higher-ups," Rude replied, sitting back a little to regard his partner.

Reno looked at him, then away, smirking a little. "Well, yeah, there's that too." Then he sobered. "Constricting clothing and stuff makes me flip out, partner. That's why I acted like such an ass when Tseng told me to dress up."

"Tell him why you can't do it," Rude suggested, then winced a little. Reno eyed him.

"Tell Tseng of the Turks I have a weakness?" He snorted. "That's the shittiest idea you've had in a long, long time, partner." Reno scooted back a little so he could lean against the elevator's wall. His fair skin was slick with sweat and he was still obviously struggling to breathe slowly. "Start the elevator up again, Rude. I need some fresh air."

Rude hit the emergency stop again and they lurched into motion. He was itching to ask Reno why restricting his breathing even by a little bit made him panic so much, but the redhead's dismissive tone told him Reno would just shake it off and refuse to answer.

The elevator dinged and Rude held out his hand. Reno took it, stroking the rough, calloused skin of his partner's palm a little as Rude pulled him to his feet. Rude shot him a look and Reno grinned what he had self-dubbed his 'sexy grin.'

Rude shook him off, but was secretly a little glad. If Reno was flirting, he had to be feeling better. They made their way to the limo, where Rufus was safely inside with Elena and Tseng. Tseng's bloodied blazer and shirt had been removed, and Elena was looking at his wound, her pretty face pinched in worry.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Reno asked. "You shoulda got Tseng to medical!"

"He insisted it was not life-threatening," Rufus said coolly, none too pleased about the blood that was dripping onto the limo seat fabric, and even less pleased about his gala being ruined. He signaled to the driver and they pulled away from the curb. "You didn't find them?"

"They'd skittered already," Reno said with a frown. "Left a mark, though." He pulled out his phone and showed Rufus the design that had been dug into the wood of the floor. The president frowned, his sandy eyebrows drawn together.

"Is that an SX?"

"Yeah. Ain't got no idea what it means, though." Reno pocketed his phone again.

Tseng spoke up. "It looks like a tag. Some snipers leave them. A new rebel group perhaps?" He winced as Elena probed his wound.

"Well, you were right about it not being life threatening," Elena told him, her voice unusually sharp. "But you're losing a lot of blood, and the bullet's in there deep."

"We'll be back soon," Rufus said. "The doctors at headquarters will take care of him."

When they pulled up to the building, Reno and Rude checked the streets before escorting Rufus back to his office while Elena helped Tseng into the building. The Wutaiian man protested, saying he needed to keep an eye on their president if there were new assassins on the prowl, but Reno simply scoffed, waving him off with a "The hell could you do with a gimp arm anyway?"

Rufus was quiet, brooding at his desk while Rude and Reno guarded his office. The young president was racking his brain, sifting through the multitude of people who wished him harm. Though the list was long, it was far shorter than it had been before Shinra reformed. Rufus's eyebrows knitted. Who would want to gun him down at a  _charity_  gala, for Shiva's sake?

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for torture in this chapter.

 

Two days of bed rest and Tseng was back at the office, favoring one arm but otherwise back to normal. When Reno walked into work the morning of his return, the redhead groaned audibly at the sight of his director. They hadn’t exactly been _slacking off_ without Tseng, but knowing the Wutaiian’s rabid sense of duty and desire to protect Rufus, he would work them to the bone now.

Tseng frowned at Reno’s groan, and Rude merely straightened his shades and shoved his partner into their office in an attempt to escape their boss’s wrath. Nevertheless, twenty minutes later, Rude and Reno were locked in the observation room, going through every bit of video footage from the night of the gala.  

“My eyes hurt,” Reno complained after several hours, rubbing them hard.

“Just a little longer,” Rude said, rewinding the tape a little. Reno leaned forward, squinting at the screen, where seas of people in formal wear were listening intently as Rufus spoke.

“Wait,” Reno said, pointing, and Rude paused the tape. “Look at that dude.” His thin finger was hovering over the face of a well-dressed man with slicked-back dark hair. “This is right before the shot was taken, right? Look at his eyes.” Rude replayed the segment in slow motion and they both focused intently on the man. Sure enough, the man’s eyes could just be seen flicking up to where the shooter had appeared moments later. “He knew,” Reno muttered. He leaned in even closer, his ponytail falling over one shoulder and tickling Rude’s fingers. The bald Turk resisted combing through the soft strands as they slipped over his hand and tried to focus on what Reno was saying, but all he could think about was the fiery hair he wanted to touch so badly.

“Rude?”

Rude started a little, looking at Reno. “What?”

“Didn’t ya hear me?”

“What?” he said again. Reno regarded him with a raised brow.

“I asked if you could zoom in on our boy’s face. You feelin’ okay?”

Rude grunted and fiddled with the knobs and buttons, managing to zoom the picture in on the suspicious man’s face, but it was grainy and warped. Reno called Tseng.

“Yo, boss man. We found a guy who looks like he could help us, but the picture’s too shitty. Yeah, that works.” He flipped the phone closed and turned to Rude. “Tseng says to let Snake take a look. He should be able to clear up the picture.”

Rude nodded in agreement. Snake was a hacker and all-around technology buff that Shinra contracted when they encountered problems they couldn’t solve on their own. Reno gave the hacker a call while Rude went to get coffee from the office, and by the time the bald man returned with three cups, Reno had been joined by a boy of no more than fifteen. Snake was thin and frail, with skin that was whiter than Reno’s, shaggy black hair, and enormous green eyes that glittered luminously. He turned to greet Rude, his white lips quirking in a smile.

“It’s been a while, Rude.”

Rude nodded back, handing him and Reno cups of coffee and sipping from the third. Reno gulped half of his and then pointed to the screen.

“Can ya clean this up?”

Snake cocked his head, studying the picture, then hefted his bag of equipment onto the table and pulled out a mass of wires and tech. The only thing Rude recognized was a laptop computer, but Snake’s clever fingers started flying and before long he had copied the tape’s footage onto his computer. With silent fascination, Rude watched the boy work, his hands moving too quickly to follow, and in the space of minutes, Snake was sitting back, the picture of the man’s face far clearer than had been before.

“You think your facial recognition can handle this?” Snake asked in his whispery voice, looking up at them through his dark bangs. Reno bent to look, thinking.

“That the best ya can do?”

Snake nodded.

“I think our machines can do it. Might come up with a couple different people, but we’ll see.” Reno reached into his blazer and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to Snake with a little grin. “You prob’ly know the drill by now, but…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Snake said, sounding his age for the first time as he took the money. “Leak any of this and I’m dead as a doornail.”

“You got it,” Reno said cheerfully. “Enjoy. Thanks for the help, kid.” Snake dropped a flash drive off in Reno’s hand and gathered his equipment, slipping out of the room. “Let’s get this to Tseng,” Reno told Rude, waving the flash drive in front of his face. He sauntered out of the room, and against his will, Rude felt his eyes drop down to his partner’s ass. After a second of admiration he shook his head, his heart sinking as Reno turned and folded his arms, leaning against the wall and smirking at him.

“Yeah, I saw that, partner,” the redhead drawled. “I saw you checkin’ out my ass.” His grin turned wicked. “‘Not interested,’ huh?”

Rude straightened his sunglasses, trying not to redden. “I’m not. We have other things to worry about, Reno,” he said, looking pointedly at the flash drive in the redhead’s hand.

Reno’s grin widened. “Yeah, yeah. I ain’t letting this go so easily though.”

Rude narrowed his eyes, though Reno couldn’t tell through the shades, cursing both himself for being careless and Reno for being so damn observant.

When they got to the offices, they caught Tseng frowning and massaging his shoulder, but the director quickly dropped his hand when he caught sight of them.

“Do you have it?”

Reno nodded, tossing the flash drive at his boss. “Said it was as clear as he could get it, but it might pick up more than one person.”

Tseng ran the man’s face through their extensive facial recognition software and came up with at least nine results, then handed a sheet of paper to Rude.

“Match the names with the gala’s guest list and we should have him.” He started reading out names, with Rude checking to see if they matched any on the guest list.

“Got one,” the big Turk said when they were on the fifth man.

“Reiss Leventhal?” Tseng repeated. “It’s him?”

“Looks like it.”

“You and Reno are best at interrogation. I don’t care what you do to him, _find out what he knows._ ” Tseng’s voice was quiet and deadly. “I’ll have Elena and Cissnei bring him in. The usual spot.”

Reno’s lips curved in a slow smile and he cracked his knuckles audibly. “I’m _dying_ for a good head-smashing,” the redhead said coldly, venom lacing the words. “Let’s go, partner. Teach him what it means to take a shot at our president, hey?”

Twenty minutes later, Rude and Reno were approaching the abandoned shack the Turks used for interrogation. It was far enough outside the city limits that no innocent passersby would hear any screams and come to investigate, but not so far that it was inconvenient for the Turks to get to it.

Cissnei and Elena were just stepping out of the door, the auburn-haired girl nursing what looked like a bite on one hand. “He’s a feisty one,” she told them crossly.

“Oh, good,” Reno purred. “Better hope he don’t have rabies, Ciss.”

“Shut up,” she told him, giving them a little wave. “Good luck!”

They stepped inside the cool darkness of the shack. Rude’s eyes adjusted enough to glimpse a figure in the center of the room, lashed to a chair. Reiss Leventhal was bound and gagged, but his dark eyes stared at them fiercely from behind tousled bangs.

“Hellooo,” Reno sang, crouching in front of Leventhal. He peeled the tape from the man’s mouth, earning a little cry of pain. “Let’s start simple. You know who I am?”

“Reno of the Turks,” the man gasped out, then sent a wad of spit flying into Reno’s face. The redhead didn’t flinch, just wiped his face clean with a sleeve.

“Let me tell you something,” Reno crooned, long fingers brushing under Reiss’s chin. “I saw you eyeing my partner. He’s scary, yeah? Lookit those muscles. He could fuck you up bad, right?” A nearly invisible hand signal from Reno had Rude backhanding the captive hard across the face, wrenching another cry from him. “His hits hurt, right?” Reno whispered, grinning wickedly. He dug his nails hard into the skin right below Reiss’s left eye, pulling the socket down a bit. “Well, I’ll tell you something,” Reno continued, now nose to nose with Leventhal. “He ain’t the one to fear.” His grin was feral, canines sharp and shining, and Rude had to admire his partner. He knew Reno was only half acting. Despite his performance after dropping the plate, Rude knew that Reno truly loved most aspects of his job, and like Tseng, had a rabid desire to protect Rufus.

Reno straightened, whipping his foot across Leventhal’s jaw hard enough to knock the chair to the ground. The man lay there, groaning, but otherwise quiet, and Rude heaved the chair back up into position.

“Now,” said Reno. “If we’re done with introductions…” He fisted a hand in Reiss’s shirt, yanking him forward, the chair teetering dangerously. “Answer yes or no. You were at the Shinra charity gala?”

“Y-yes,” Reiss gasped out.

“Good. You knew it would be interrupted, right?”

“Yes.”

“You know who’s after Rufus?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me their names.”

Reiss clammed up, lifting his chin and staring Reno down with more courage than Rude had given him credit for. The redhead’s eyes flashed dangerously, and he lifted a foot, placing it firmly over the captive’s groin before untying the ropes that held his right hand.

“I’ll ask you again.” This was punctuated by a jab to the nose from Rude, making blood dribble down onto Reiss’s white shirt. “Tell me who is after Rufus.”

Rude clenched his teeth, knowing what was coming as Reno curled his hand almost lovingly over one of the man’s fingers. When Leventhal still didn’t answer, there was a sickening crack and a howl of pain, and Rude fought down the desire to flinch. Even after over ten years of service to the Turks and more tortures than he could count, he still hated the sound of fingers breaking.

Over the businessman’s sobs, Reno spoke again. “See, my partner Rude’s a good guy to have around, especially if ya need someone beaten to death. Doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t crack a smile. He just gets the job done.” Another crack and scream of pain. “But me? I’ll keep ya alive for _months_ , always in pain, till you’re begging me to kill ya.”

“Ifrit take you,” the man managed to gasp out. “You’re a fucking monster.”

Reno laughed. “Tell me something I don’t know, pal. _Tell me who is after Rufus.”_

“I don’t know!” Reiss wailed. Rude frowned. It was always chilling to see a forty- or fifty-something man wail.

“Bullshit!” Reno thundered, his aqua eyes blazing. He caught Reiss around the neck and in a flash, had a small knife pressed to the skin underneath one of his eyes. “You know the reason no one’s ever seen Rufus Shinra cry or bleed?” He pressed down to emphasize his point and a ruby drop of blood ran down the knife blade and onto his hand. “Because of the Turks. We’re damn good at our jobs, and I may be a lazy, rude piece of shit most of the time, but by the gods, you’ll learn why I ain’t second only to Tseng for nothing!” There was a flash of silver and Rude heard a scream rend the air. When Reno stepped back, one of Reiss’s eyes was a bloody ruin, and the redhead’s face was stony as he wiped the knife on his pants. “Ready to talk yet?”

Through sobs and whimpers, they could make out Reiss nodding his head. Rude took hold of a handful of his hair as the man’s head dropped, forcing him to look at them with his remaining eye.

“Tell me who is after Rufus,” Reno said for the fourth time, voice deceptively calm.

A string of garbled words met his demand, and Rude raised his eyebrow at Reno. “Think you overdid it, partner?”

“Didn’t touch his mouth,” Reno replied coldly. “Listen up, fuckface. I’ll give you a few seconds to compose yourself, and then I get cranky again.”

Through the curses and whimpers of pain, the Turks’ sharp ears picked up a single word. “SOLDIER.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me,” Reno said, still in that deadly, quiet voice. “SOLDIER ain’t around no more.”

“I-I’m not lying,” Reiss said, finally managing to speak clearly. “They’re not SOLDIERs anymore. They call themselves SOLDIER-X. It’s a group of ex-SOLDIERs who were administered extra mako doses, even though they couldn’t tolerate it. Shinra didn’t care. Your precious Rufus didn’t care what it did to them. Some of them were deformed, some just had brain damage, but either way, they’re pissed as hell. And they’re gunning for your president.”

“SX,” Reno said to Rude, and the bald man nodded, remembering the scratches on the floor. “Don’t they know that it was Rufus’s dad who handled all that shit?” He directed the question at Reiss.

“They don’t care,” the man gasped out. “Rufus Shinra may look like he’s turning over a new leaf, but he’ll get power hungry before long. They always do. He’ll wind up just like his father. In more ways than one.”

Rude backhanded the side of Reiss’s face that still had an eye, hard. Reiss groaned, slumping in the chair in a dead faint.

“Aw, ya hit him too hard, partner,” Reno complained, checking their captive’s vitals to make sure he was at least still breathing.

“Wasn’t much else he could’ve told us,” Rude answered.

“Might’ve been able to get how he’s affiliated,” Reno snapped, then relaxed a little. “Let’s bring him into HQ at least. Tseng ain’t gonna want us to let this guy go.”

Rude nodded. “You good?” he asked his partner cautiously. Reno’s eyes were still blazing with a slightly crazed look in his pale face, and he was trembling a little.

“I’m fine,” the redhead said. “Just…got a little carried away.” He grinned. “Been a while since we’ve done that, huh?”

Rude nodded, allowing a smirk to slip through.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ex-SOLDIERs?" Tseng asked, turning to frown at them. "I thought they were all taken care of."

"They're not regular ex-SOLDIERs," Reno told him, lounging against the wall, arms crossed. "According to the guy, they were experimented on—given more mako doses than they could handle. Not enough to turn them into those things," He added hurriedly at Tseng's alarmed look, guessing the director was thinking of the creatures in the tanks at Nibelheim's reactor. "But enough to deform them some, or cause brain damage. Apparently they're lookin' to get all paybacky on Rufus."

Tseng gave a quiet curse, making Reno glance over at Rude, eyebrows raised. It was rare for Tseng to ever swear, even when he was visibly upset, but the soreness in his shoulder and the knowledge of what they were up against must have pushed him over the edge. "SOLDIERs were hard enough to control when they were under Shinra's thumb," Tseng murmured, propping his chin on one hand.

"Basically, we're fucked?" Reno supplied, ever the wordsmith. Tseng shot a distasteful look at him, but then sighed.

"Basically."

Reno's eyebrows climbed higher, and Tseng seemed to remember himself. He straightened at his desk, regaining his composure.

"Rufus needs to have twenty-four hour protection for the moment. I'll draw up a schedule and post it later today. I want you two to continue questioning Leventhal until we know everything he knows. You weren't able to get locations out of him?"

Reno scratched his head. "Well, Rude kinda knocked him out."

Rude cleared his throat, straightening his tie, and Tseng raised an eyebrow at him. "I've had him moved to the basement holding cells. When he recovers you can continue interrogation." His dark eyes flicked over Reno's clothing, stained with Reiss's blood. "You can both go home for the day and clean up. I'll let you know when you're guarding Rufus tomorrow."

"Hey, thank boss man," Reno said, surprised. Tseng was rarely lenient, especially when Rufus was in danger. Privately, Rude wondered if it was due to the fact that Tseng had noticed how jittery Reno was—more so than usual, in fact. His fingers were dancing against his trouser legs as he walked, and his step was bouncier than normal, full of nervous energy.

* * *

They reached Reno's apartment, and the redhead unlocked the door, turning to Rude. "You wanna come in? We can order pizza and get smashed."

Rude considered it, then nodded, stepping into the apartment behind Reno. "You ever do anything besides drink?" he asked mildly, and Reno laughed as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one.

"Sometimes," he said around the cigarette. "But I need something to make me relax after all that. Forgot how much I liked it."

"Does it bother you?" Rude asked as he sat on the couch beside Reno. The redhead kicked his feet up on the coffee table and reached for his phone.

"Bother me?" Reno considered it. "Nah." He knew what Rude was thinking. "It only bothers me when it's someone innocent. Or kids. At least under Rufus we don't torture innocent people much." He grinned, a slow, fox-like grin. "Assholes like Leventhal have it coming."

"True," Rude said, leaning back as Reno dialed the pizza place.

"The usual?" the redhead asked.

"No pineapple," Rude said automatically.

"Aww, c'mon. You say that every time."

"I mean it every time."

"Fine," Reno huffed, and while he put in the order Rude went to the kitchen to get glasses, until he realized that Reno didn't own glasses.

"Reno, why don't you have glasses?" Rude asked when Reno got off the phone.

"Fuck that, partner. I just drink outta the bottle."

"You're a slob."

"You've known me for ten years you're just figuring that out now?"

Rude sat back down on the couch, reaching for the ever-present bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. "Sometimes I forget." He took a careful sip, remembering what had happened the last time he'd drunk with Reno.

Reno looked down at himself. "I'm gonna change," he said, getting to his feet. "As much as I enjoyed today, I don't feel like eating dinner while wearing another guy's blood. Get the door if the pizza comes, yeah?" He shrugged out of his blazer and threw it on the ground as he headed to the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes behind him. Rude hurriedly looked away from his partner before the pants went, but had a sneaking suspicion that Reno was doing it on purpose.  _Sometimes I really think I hate myself,_  Rude thought, drinking more whiskey and wishing the pizza would come so he had another option besides getting drunk.

The doorbell did ring a few minutes later, while Reno was still in the shower, and Rude gratefully paid the delivery boy and had two slices of (pineapple-free) pizza in his stomach by the time Reno emerged from his bedroom, dressed in sweat pants and an undershirt.

"You owe me ten gil," Rude told him. Reno scoffed a little.

"You make me not get pineapple,  _then_  you start without me, and you still want me to go halfsies, partner? Stingy asshole." Nevertheless, he pulled out a bank note and handed it over. Rude slipped it into his own wallet, then offered the pizza box to Reno, who chose a slice and had half of it in his mouth before Rude could blink.

It was almost how it used to be, the two of them lounging together on a couch, watching bad TV and getting drunk. Rude felt himself relax a little, pleased with how Reno was, either unconsciously or consciously, keeping a couple inches of space between them on the couch and had barely flirted all evening aside from his spontaneous undressing. If Rude hadn't been concentrating so hard on not feeling anything for his partner, he might have thought it was odd how tame Reno was being. The redhead wasn't even drunk, just a little tipsy, and that was surprising in and of itself.

The pizza was gone and Rude was getting sleepy, his head swimming a little from the alcohol. Reno was chattering about something, but he wasn't really listening—just enjoying the camaraderie that was so like what he and Reno had had before Rude's mind and body had decided to fuck him over completely and decide Reno was attractive. He was warm and happy, a feeling that was nothing more than a long-lost memory most of the time. He shouldn't have let his guard down.

Before he could register what was happening, Reno was straddling his lap, pressing his ass down on Rude's groin. The calm shattered and Rude tensed, but Reno's hands were already on his wrists, holding them down as he curled his tongue around the first piercing in Rude's ear.

"I told you I wouldn't forget about you staring at my ass," the redhead purred, taking the lobe into his mouth and sucking gently. Rude shuddered. He knew he could easily break free of Reno's grip, but his body was frozen, reveling in the feel of Reno's hot mouth on his skin even as his mind screamed at him that this was  _bad bad bad._

Reno pressed into him, and Rude felt the redhead's erection, hot and heavy against his lower body before Reno rolled his hips down, ripping a little groan from Rude's throat. The big man felt himself harden instantly and he jerked as Reno licked a strip up his neck to his jaw. He could hear Reno panting a little and saw his blue-green eyes hazy with arousal before the redhead's perfect lips landed on the corner of Rude's mouth. He pulled back a bit and Reno hesitated for a split second before his mouth was coming closer again, pressing gently against Rude's in an almost shy kiss. A moan bubbled up in Reno's throat, making his lips vibrate against his partner's. Almost against his will, Rude felt his mouth moving against Reno's, lips slick with saliva. He tasted so good, just like Rude had always imagined—smoke and cinnamon, and Rude felt his stomach tighten in desire.

Reno's tongue was just coming out to stroke against Rude's lips when the bald Turk finally unfroze. Jerking his wrists free, he turned his head sharply to the side, freeing himself. Reno made an irritated noise, sitting back a little with his hands resting on Rude's lapels.

" _Why_?" the redhead bit out, frustration clouding his eyes and words. He rolled his hips again and Rude gasped slightly.

"Don't," he told Reno, but the redhead slid his hands against Rude's heavily muscled chest and leaned in again. "I said don't!" Rude snapped, shoving his partner hard. Reno lost his balance, tumbling down to land hard on the floor, the breath whooshing out of him. Rude felt a twinge of guilt at the accusing look Reno sent his way, but he stood anyway, moving towards the door without bothering to help the redhead up.

"Rude, you're seriously being a dick," Reno snapped, and he paused, looking back at his partner, who was still sprawled on the floor, leaning on his elbows. Reno pushed himself to his feet stiffly. "You want me," he said in a low voice. "I know you want me! Ifrit's fire, you were hard and you kissed me back, gods damn it!" he shouted, and the raw emotion in his voice was like a knife in Rude's heart. He ignored it, slamming out of Reno's apartment and pounding up the stairs to his own home.

Reno stood in the middle of his living room, quivering with anger. In a sudden, savage movement, he put his fist through the drywall, wincing at the sharp pain that wormed up his arm. He tugged his hand free and stared with dull eyes at the ruin of his knuckles, dripping bright blood down his wrist and onto the carpet.

With a sigh, Reno flung himself back down onto the couch and reached for the whiskey. He'd been keeping his drinking light that evening, but now he was upset enough to take several long pulls, both to dull the pain in his hand and the strange ache of emptiness in his chest.

* * *

Rude noticed the rawness of Reno's knuckles the next day, but refused to acknowledge it. In fact, he sat at his desk quietly, not even offering a greeting. Reno was disheveled and his uniform was sloppier than usual, his eyes red-rimmed, but Rude was too pissed at his partner to even bring himself to care. It seemed that Reno was also, if the smell that radiated off of him was any indication, still drunk from the night before.

"Gaia, Reno," Elena said, stopping short as she entered their office. She wrinkled her nose. "It smells like you took a bath in booze."

Reno just glared and grunted a little, propping his head on one hand and doodling on a sheet of paper at his desk.

"What is it?" Rude asked Elena, swiveling to face her.

"Tseng has the schedule worked out for guarding Rufus," she told him, handing over a sheet of paper. "You two have the night shift three times this week."

"Why does he always put us together?" Reno said petulantly, tossing a wad of paper across the room. "Would it kill Tseng to switch it up some?"

"You're partners," Elena told him slowly, as though he were stupid. "By definition, you work together. Besides, you two are like the dream team."

Uncomfortable, Rude excused himself to go get more coffee. Reno frowned at his back, and Elena came over to lean against his desk, taking his injured hand in hers.

"This isn't from interrogation," she observed.

Reno pulled his hand back. "I had to blow off some steam last night," he muttered.

"Those look nasty, Reno. Did you clean them?"

"Lay off, Laney," Reno snapped. "I can deal with it myself."

Elena scoffed, crossing her arms, and Reno almost smiled at how different she was from the shy and polite rookie who'd joined Shinra years ago. "There's something going on with Rude, isn't there?" she asked him, tipping her head to one side. "What's up? You know we can't afford to have you guys out of sync, not with this SOLDIER-X group running around."

Reno cut his eyes at the door, but Rude had yet to reappear. He wasn't normally one to confide—if he ever did, it was to Rude, but clearly that wasn't an option right then, not with Rude acting like a dick. "It's complicated," he hedged.

"Don't give me that, Reno. Are you guys fucking?"

His eyebrows rose. "Where's the shy little Elena who was always polite to her superiors? Damn, girl."

She grinned at him, a little bitterly. "She died when Kadaj and his gang brutally tortured her."

Reno winced. "I get that."

"So? Don't try to change the subject, Red."

He frowned at her. "No, we're not fucking. Not for lack of me trying." The last part was muttered under Reno's breath, but Elena's sharp ears picked it up.

"Aww, poor Reno," she cooed, ruffling his hair. He bared his teeth and slapped her hand away. Sobering, Elena gave his head a last little stroke and said, "You know Rude's a tough guy to crack."

Reno leaned back with a sigh. "Didja know that in the entire ten years I've known Rude, I've  _never_  seen him with someone? Not even a one night stand." He snorted. "I'd think he was a monk if he didn't get chatty when he's wasted."

Elena sat down in the spare chair and scooted up to Reno's desk, propping her feet up carefully to avoid the explosion of paperwork that liberally covered the redhead's workspace. "Rude would do anything for you," she said softly. "He's quiet and reserved, but I've never seen him more alive than when he's with you."

Reno made a frustrated noise. "Then why won't he  _do_ something about it? He keeps saying he ain't interested, but unless he had an EMR in his pocket last night, I know  _that_  ain't right." His bloodshot eyes focused forlornly on the opposite wall of the office.

"Yuck," Elena said dismissively.

"He pushed me," Reno admitted as though he hadn't heard her. "I was on his lap and he shoved me off. And he wasn't nice about it."

"That doesn't sound like him," Elena said, brow furrowing. "It sounds like he's got some issues to work through, Reno. Maybe you should lay off. Rude's a gentle giant most of the time when he's not working. For something to make him react violently he must really have his reasons."

Reno was quiet, but he looked uncharacteristically sad, and Elena almost asked him what he felt for Rude, but knew he would just laugh the question off with a crude joke. She patted his shoulder instead as she got to her feet. "Don't let it get to you, okay Reno? Rufus's safety is our priority right now."

"Don't tell me what to do," Reno grumbled, but it was without heat. "I'm your superior."

"Well, you're acting like a kid. Either grow a pair and talk to Rude about how you feel or suck it up until we deal with these SOLDIER assholes."

"When did you get so introspective?" Reno asked suspiciously.

"When did you learn big words?" Elena shot back, heading for the door. She nearly crashed into Rude as he was returning, and the big man mumbled an apology.

Reno sank his head onto his desk. There was a little knot of consternation in his stomach that grew when he thought about spending an entire night with Rude. Rufus's safety came first, of course, and Reno would do everything in his power to protect his president, but he couldn't remember ever  _not_  looking forward to something quite as much as he was dreading a twelve hour shift mostly alone with his partner, particularly when they were on such bad terms. He had never not wanted to spend time with Rude before, and the new feeling was unpleasant. It almost made him want to puke.

Reno frowned. No, he actually had to puke.

Rude shook his head in exasperation when his partner bolted from the room, a hand over his mouth.

Reno managed to make it to the men's room, not bothering to lock the stall door before heaving into the toilet. His stomach felt like it was turning inside out—a feeling he was unfortunately rather familiar with lately. As he flushed the toilet, Reno half expected Rude to be there at his back with a glass of water like he normally was, but when he struggled to his feet, Tseng was standing by the sinks, his arms crossed.

"What?" Reno snapped, feeling too ill to be polite.

Tseng just stared, his eyes icy. "The first threat to Rufus's life since Kadaj and his gang is here, Reno. You need to pull yourself together."

"I  _am_  together," Reno bit out, splashing water in his face and cursing his colleagues silently. "Elena already bitched at me once, all right, Tseng?" He made to push past his boss and leave the room, but Tseng caught his arm.

"Whatever is going on with you, it ends now," the Wutaiian man hissed. "Don't make me regret promoting you to be my second. You're good at what you do, Reno, but too more of this reckless attitude and I'll be forced to officially reprimand you." His eyes flickered over Reno's pale face. "Not to mention the damage you're doing to your liver."

"Turks don't live long enough to die of liver failure," Reno said cheerfully, jamming his hands in his pockets as he left the room. He felt slightly better after vomiting and managed to return to his office and work for several hours, though Rude's solid, quiet, and yet somehow disappointed presence in the room fostered in him a strong desire to keep drinking and never stop. When they were first partnered, Reno hadn't minded Rude's quietness—he liked to listen to himself talk, after all—but now the echoing silence was driving him batty, and he was still too irritated at Rude to talk in his presence, even to himself. When it was time to go home, Reno didn't bother to wait for Rude; he just left to go back to his dark apartment alone and drink some more, dreading the next night when he and Rude would have to guard Rufus.

For his part, Rude spent the night sleeping fitfully, his waking hours plagued by worries of what Reno was doing to himself without Rude to look out for him.


	8. Chapter 8

The phone rang, and the harsh sound made Reno jerk awake, gasping from a dream he could barely remember. He knew he'd been dreaming of Rude, and if the throbbing in between his legs was any indication, it had been a fairly racy fantasy. Reno groaned, yesterday's clothes sticking to his sweaty body as he fumbled in his pocket and pressed his phone to his ear.

"Reno," he croaked.

"It's Tseng."

"Fuck, Tseng, do you know what time it is?"

"It's eight in the morning, Reno. And I'd be careful how you address me, since I was calling to tell you not to come in today."

Reno straightened a little. "Uh, y'know, boss, have I mentioned how nice your, uh…" Before he could think of something of Tseng's to compliment, the director snorted.

"Don't bother with your fake flattery," he said, actually sounding amused. "Since you and Rude have the night shift with Rufus, take today off and get as much sleep as you can. I want you both alert for guard duty."

"Got it," Reno said, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. "You gonna call Rude or should I?"

"You tell him," Tseng said, a little evilly.

"Fine," Reno snapped, irritated that he'd even asked. He ended the call and lay back on the bed, one arm over his eyes, breathing in the acrid smell of alcohol.  _Drinking in bed,_  Reno thought.  _That's a new low._  Surprisingly, he didn't have to vomit, though he still felt out of sorts. With a sigh, Reno dialed Rude.

"Rude."

"It's me. Tseng says to take the day off and get some sleep before tonight." Reno was surprised at how steady his voice sounded, even though it sounded somewhat dead.

"All right. Thanks," came Rude's rumbling voice. Then, "Are you all right?"

Reno clenched his jaw a little. "Now you care?" he asked mildly.

Rude was quiet, his breathing deep and steady through the phone.

Reno bared his teeth in frustration. "I'm fine," he snapped petulantly.

Rude let out a sigh, and Reno went silent, ashamed. "I've always cared," his partner said, his deep voice quiet.

"I'll see you tonight." Reno hung up and threw his phone at the wall, rolling over on his rumpled bed to hug a pillow to his chest. He wasn't as hot and sweaty as he'd been when he woke up, but Rude's rumbling voice had reawakened the throbbing between his legs, and he was steadfastly trying to ignore it. It was unlike him to ignore need for something sexual, particularly when he was alone in his bedroom, but being on the outs with Rude wasn't very sexy to Reno, even if his body was telling him otherwise. He felt a desperate need to drink until he fell asleep, but he knew Tseng and Rude would both tear him a new one if he showed up to guard Rufus drunk or hungover. Reno groaned, rolling over again and cuddling up to his pillow, shutting his eyes and trying to sleep.

* * *

Evening fell, and Rude found himself standing outside Reno's apartment door, wondering if he should knock. He never had before—he and Reno were normally close enough that they just walked into each other's living spaces, but now Rude had no idea where they stood with each other. He was still debating when Reno opened the door, starting a little when he caught sight of Rude, poised with one fist in the air.

"Oh. Uh, hey. You ready?" Reno asked, shrugging into his blazer. He looked more rumpled than usual, but thankfully sober.

Rude nodded, checking his watch. "We've got thirty minutes to get to Rufus's, and that counts doubling back to make sure we're not followed. We should leave."

They took Rude's car, taking side streets with Reno keeping a sharp eye out for any tails. Normally Rufus lived in a penthouse apartment in the city not far from headquarters, but Tseng had had him moved to a safe house on the outskirts that could be more easily guarded.

The house was well-lit, and Reno knocked lightly at the back door. It opened, and he found himself staring down the barrel of Tseng's gun.

"Very nice," Reno said dryly, and Tseng lowered his weapon, beckoning them inside.

"You know what to do?" the director asked, holstering his handgun. Tseng looked tired, the skin under his eyes a bruised, purplish color. Elena entered the room, looking slightly better than their boss, but not by much. The ex-SOLDIER threat was taking a toll on them all.

"We got it," Reno said, flicking back his ponytail. "Go get some rest, boss man." He smirked at Elena. "You too, shrimp."

"Bite me, Reno," Elena muttered. "And I'll take your advice if you take mine." She smirked back, and Reno frowned, looking away.

Tseng and Elena left, leaving Reno and Rude alone. They checked in with Rufus, who was in the upstairs study working, looking even more tired than Tseng had.  _Must be exhausting having people trying to kill ya,_ Reno thought.

Rude was checking the windows and doors, his pistol in one hand. "What advice did Elena give you?" he asked finally.

From the couch, Reno looked up. "Huh? Oh…nothing. She's just being Elena. Irritating as usual." His face was closed off, and Rude could tell there was more to it, but he didn't press the matter. Rude finished checking the exits and sat on the couch with Reno, leaving a generous amount of space between them.

Silence stretched, the hours creeping by slowly. Every fifteen minutes or so one of them made a round of the house, checking to make sure Rufus was safe and that they were still alone. Reno was jittery, his fingers tapping on his knees, his eyes darting back and forth. Rude could see a sheen of sweat on his fair skin, and realized with a little jolt that Reno was uncharacteristically nervous.

It was nearly midnight before Reno spoke. He'd just gotten back from a quick look around and had settled back on the couch, still looking edgy. "Are we ever going to talk about this?" he asked in a low voice, not looking at Rude.

The bald Turk was quiet for a very long time, but Reno gritted his teeth and tried to be patient. "Now isn't the time," Rude said finally.

"I ain't spending eight more hours in fucking silence just because you've got your panties in a bunch, partner," Reno snapped.

Rude stiffened. He got to his feet and went to one of the windows, just so he wouldn't have to sit on the couch next to Reno anymore.

"When will you stop being such an asshole, Rude?" Reno almost shouted. "You can't just ignore everything that's wrong and hope it gets better." He was on his feet now too, body tense.

Rude still didn't say anything. His back was to Reno, quivering slightly. "I'm not doing this now," he said at last.

"Fuck you, we're going to do it now!" Reno snapped. He swayed a little, feeling suddenly nauseous, and put a hand to his head. "Gods, I need a fucking drink," he muttered. "You're impossible to talk to unless I'm half gone anyways." That was a lie, but Reno was angry enough that he was saying anything he could to get a rise out of his partner.

Rude finally turned to him, his jawline sharp and tensed. "If you need to be drunk to talk about things, then we have nothing to say, Reno."

Reno stepped forward, jabbing a finger into Rude's chest. "You are such a fucking coward, you know that? Everyone looks at you, big bad Rude, and says, 'oh he's so strong. He's so brave.' But you're not, are you? When it actually matters, you're a  _fucking coward!_ "

Had he been prepared, Reno would probably have been able to dodge. As it was, he barely managed to move an inch before Rude's fist connected solidly with his face, bloodying his nose and splitting his lip. Reno gasped in surprise, staggering back a little and looking up at Rude in shock. He'd wanted a rise out of Rude, but he'd never known his partner to ever react violently when there was another option, and the punch had thrown him for a loop. Rude's face was tight with anger, even from behind his shades it was obvious. Reno recovered and bared his teeth, blood staining the whiteness of them as he launched himself at Rude, tackling him around the middle.

Most Turks were trained in martial arts of some kind, beautiful movements designed for maximum damage. They were taught not to let feelings intervene, because feelings made you sloppy. 'Sloppy' could describe how Reno and Rude fought now, all training forgotten as they rolled together on the ground, punching, kicking, and biting, fueled by rage.

Reno had just headbutted Rude hard in the face, making him grunt and flip Reno over his head to land hard on the carpeted ground, when they heard someone clear their throat. Both of them froze, remembering where they were and what they were supposed to be doing.

Rufus was standing in the doorway, clad in silk pajamas and looking halfway between angry and amused. "I thought we were being attacked," he said as they got to their feet.

"Nah," Reno said, blotting his bleeding lip with a sleeve. "Uh, sorry, sir." He had the grace to look guilty.

"I would've expected this from Reno, but not from you, Rude," Rufus said quietly, exuding authority for all of his youthful appearance.

Rude shifted uncomfortably. His sunglasses were broken and lying on the ground somewhere, and a black eye was forming on the right side of his face. "My apologies," he muttered. "I forgot myself."

"If we are not being invaded, may I return to bed?" Rufus inquired icily, and they nodded, shamefaced. Rufus turned to leave, muttering about docking their pay.

Reno looked around the room, surveying the damage. No furniture was broken but the contents of their pockets had spilled across the carpet. He picked out his own keys and wallet and stuffed them back in his pants, handing over Rude's.

The rest of the night passed in uncomfortable silence, but with no other altercations. Reno was itching to talk again, but he kept his mouth shut until they had been relieved by Cissnei and another Turk and were en route to their apartment complex. And then, Reno realized, he didn't know what to say, which was extremely rare for him. They parted ways with muttered goodbyes and Reno unlocked his apartment door, raking a hand through his hair. He was dog tired and his face hurt, but he was also starving, so he pulled out his wallet and phone.

One glance inside the black leather wallet and he knew with a sinking feeling that he'd accidently picked up Rude's wallet instead of his own. For one thing, the bills were arranged neatly, from lowest amount to highest, and for another, there was a photo inside. His brow furrowed, and with a sense that he was being incredibly nosy, Reno unfolded the creased photo.

It was a picture of a girl, a pretty girl with auburn hair and a wide smile. Her skin was too light and her features too delicate to be related to Rude, so Reno surmised she wasn't his mother or sister.  _An old lover?_  he wondered briefly, before the rest of the picture registered with him. The girl was holding a child, a small boy of about two or three, with thick black hair and rich brown skin only a little lighter than Rude's.

Reno's eyes widened, his heart pounding in shock. He knew next to nothing about Rude's past, or the pasts of any of the Turks. Joining up with the Turks was a new slate—past sins and past lives washed clean. But there was no mistaking it—this had to be Rude's child, or at the very least somehow related to him.  _Rude, a father?_  Reno thought, barely able to entertain the idea. He knew better than others that Rude had depth, had feelings, but he had never imagined his quiet partner as part of anything other than…well, himself. And what's more, Rude had never spoken of having a family, even when he was wasted out of his mind, which was how Reno found out most of what he knew of his stoic friend.

The shock finally starting to wear off, Reno tucked the photo back in Rude's wallet and left his apartment, walking up the flights of stairs to the other Turk's apartment in a daze. He paused outside of Rude's door and finally knocked, not wanting to push his luck by just bursting in when they were on such bad terms.

Rude opened the door, lowering his handgun when he saw who it was. He hesitated, as though debating whether or not to let Reno in, and finally stepped aside. They stood in his living room, bathed in early morning light as Reno fidgeted, trying to think of what to say. Finally he handed the wallet to Rude.

"I took yours by mistake."

Rude opened it, checking to make sure the photo was still there. It was in a different place than usual, and his stomach sank a little, knowing what it meant.

Reno stepped closer, on edge, remembering how Rude had hit him the last time he'd opened his mouth without thinking. "Rude," he started, then fell silent. This was new territory, and he had no idea how to proceed.

"I guess we all have secrets we don't want to share," Rude said at last, echoing what Reno had said so many weeks before. He hadn't replaced his broken sunglasses yet and his dark eyes were expressive and sad. He sank down onto his couch and set the wallet on the arm, smoothing a hand over his bald head with a sigh.

"Is she—are they the reason you pushed me away?" Reno asked finally, still standing. For all his boasting about wanting to talk earlier, he was feeling rather awkward.

Rude still wouldn't look at him. "They're dead," he said.

"That ain't what I asked," Reno said quietly.

"You want to know why I won't fuck you?" Rude asked, his voice harsh. "What relationship have you ever had that lasted longer than three days?"

"What the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Reno shot back, feeling defensive.

"There are so many reasons why, Reno," Rude said, keeping his voice calm and controlled. Or attempting to. "One, you're my partner. I work with you, and it's unprofessional. Two, you're looking for a quick fuck, and I'm not into that. Three…" He trailed off, looking almost embarrassed, as though he'd said too much.

"Ten years," Reno cut in, shoving his hands in his pockets to stop them shaking. He could do nothing for his trembling voice, however. "You've known me ten years. We've been  _friends_  for ten years. You really think I'd throw all that away for a quick fuck? When the hell did you get senile, Rude?"

"What am I supposed to think, Reno?" Rude snapped, finally locking eyes with him.

"You're supposed to trust me!" Reno shouted. "I don't—I can't even—" His collar suddenly felt too constricting, even though his shirt was in its usual half-buttoned state.

Rude heard his breath turn raspy and knew Reno was on the verge of another panic attack. His anger forgotten, Rude got to his feet quickly, pulling off Reno's blazer and throwing it aside before unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders. "Breathe, Reno," he said, feeling like a broken record.

"I'm fine," Reno said weakly, but he let Rude guide him to sit on the couch. "Gods!" he cursed, covering his face with his hands. "I don't do this on purpose," he said defensively, muffled by his hands. "I don't do it to make you feel sorry for me."

"I know," Rude said. Reno was crass and cruel at times, but he didn't manipulate the people he cared about. "It's okay. Just focus on breathing."

"I'm really okay," the redhead rasped, still hiding his face. "I just—I wouldn't do anything to fuck up our friendship, Rude. You know I wouldn't." He wiped sweat from his brow. "You're the last damn person who cares about me."

Rude didn't deny it. Their coworkers were fond of Reno, but none shared the bond the two of them had. Reno gave a hollow laugh.

"Well, cared about me anyway. I've been a right bastard about this whole thing."

Rude relaxed against the couch. "You're not the only one." Then, quieter, "And I do still care about you."

They sat in silence for a bit, but a comfortable silence, unlike the ones that had occurred before. Amazingly, Rude was the first to speak.

"Before I joined the Turks," he began, "I met a girl. Tessa. I got her pregnant when we were eighteen, and married her soon after." Rude paused, unused to so much speaking. "I wasn't old enough or smart enough to be a husband or father, but I tried. I'd left school early to work, but we never had enough, so I kept borrowing money. I…"

Reno frowned a little, thinking he knew where the story was going. "Ya borrowed from the wrong people?" he suggested.

Rude sighed. "Yeah. A few years later, when my son was only two, the people I owed broke into our house at night. They tied me up, killed my son, and raped and killed my wife."

Reno's jaw clenched a little at the matter-of-fact way Rude was speaking. He'd known the big man long enough to know that Rude was feeling anything but matter-of-fact, no matter how casual he sounded. It was the tightness in his clenched hands, the barely-there quiver that edged his words. "Why are you telling me this?" Reno asked. "You know I'd never ask—I mean, I get having shit ya don't wanna tell people."

"I don't know," Rude said, smoothing a hand over his head. "I just…I never had anyone as important to me as Tess and my son. Before you, I mean." He was glad his dark skin hid the blush he could feel burning its way up his chest into his face. His heart was hammering, waiting for Reno to laugh at him and call him a sentimental woman.

Reno's long fingers landed on Rude's temple and the big man stiffened at the touch. Before he could pull away, Reno was in his face, looking into his dark eyes with a curious expression on his face. Then he was kissing him, a surprisingly tender kiss, just a soft press of lips on lips.

The redhead slid a hand around Rude's neck, gently holding on as he started to become lightheaded from the feeling of Rude's mouth on his. His split lip stung, but the pain was muted, as though it was far away, his gut twisting in desire so strong he felt physically ill.

Rude pulled away, much as he had the last time Reno had kissed him. Reno swore viciously. "Are you fucking kidding me, Rude?"

Rude glared at him. "Were you listening to anything I said?"

"Yes! And fuck all, Rude, I'm shit at talking when it comes to feelings, so I was  _trying_  to do it without words!" Reno snapped. "I thought you just said I mean as much to you as your wife did. Excuse the fuck outta me for interpreting it wrong." A red flush had colored his pale cheeks.

"That's not it," Rude murmured, still looking away.

Reno settled back, his eyes sharp, and Rude could feel them boring into him even though he couldn't see, and knew Reno was reading him.

"You feel guilty," the redhead said softly. "You feel so guilty that you couldn't protect your family that it's eating you up, even this many years later."

Rude clenched his jaw harder. "I should have been able to stop them. I shouldn't have let it go that far in the first place. I killed them afterwards, but I should have prevented it."

"Maybe so, partner, but that doesn't do you a whole lotta good now, does it?" Reno retorted. "We all make mistakes. We all get people killed." His voice was shaking a little now, and Rude knew he was thinking of the plate.

"It's different."

"Bullshit, Rude. You're using this as an excuse not to get close to anyone because you can't  _bear_  the thought of failing people again. Well, fuck you, because I can take care of myself. We all risk dying every day in this line of work, and yet you can't let down a  _single_  wall to have the semblance of a normal relationship."

Rude opened his mouth to say something, but Reno cut him off.

"Shut up and let me talk," he snapped. "You think depriving yourself of affection and contact is going to make you atone for letting your family die?" Reno snarled, eyes burning like sapphires. "Let me tell you a thing or two about atonement, partner, because you seem to never take your own advice to heart." The redhead straddled Rude's lap and grabbed his face in one hand, forcing him to look at him. "You will  _never_  be able to change what you did!" he yelled, so loudly that his voice cracked. "They're gone, and you're so wrapped up in what you should have done that you won't see what's right in front of you. It doesn't make you cool, and it doesn't make you any better. It makes you a dick." He paused, breathing hard, his bare chest heaving and his aqua eyes growing suspiciously damp.

"Reno," Rude started, reaching up towards his partner's quivering cheek.

"Fuck," Reno muttered, rubbing at his eyes. He started to turn away, but Rude's hands on his upper arms held him still. After a moment, the redhead leaned in, his breath coming in heavy gasps as he kissed Rude hungrily, hands coming around to the back of his partner's head to hold him. "Kiss me back," he almost begged. "Fuck you, Rude, kiss me back, dammit. Let yourself have something for once." Reno could feel Rude shaking, but he wasn't pulling away, and after a minute his lips started moving, kissing back, sliding along Reno's in a sensual dance. Reno was still gasping, his breath stolen by the kiss, and there was wetness on his face, even though he couldn't remember crying. One upward glance saw slick trails on Rude's cheeks as well, and he reached up to wipe them away, comforting in the only way he knew how.

Rude loosened his grip around Reno's biceps and moved his arms to his waist instead, closing tight and pulling the redhead against him, feeling the battle-hardened skin of his back and sides. Reno's tongue was stroking against his lips now, and he opened his mouth to taste him, his body remembering what to do even after so many years that he'd thought he'd forgotten. Reno's hands popped a few of his buttons and slid into the opening, stroking against Rude's chest muscles, pausing briefly to toy with the rings in his nipples. Rude groaned at the feeling, his hips thrusting up a little at their own accord, making Reno gasp. He could feel the smaller man's erection pressing against his own, and the feeling made him dizzy.

Reno pulled back to catch his breath, leaning his forehead against Rude's. Rude kept stroking the skin of his back, his touch surprisingly gentle as his large fingers feathered along Reno's spine, and Reno relaxed further into him, head moving to nestle between Rude's neck and shoulder. He kissed the skin there, nibbling slightly as Rude shivered. He sniffed back the tears that threatened to continue falling, and heard Rude echo the sound.

"You miss her," Reno said into his neck. "Both of them."

"More than anything," Rude murmured. His grip tightened, his hands moving over Reno's sharp shoulder blades.

"And I'm her replacement?"

The hands paused, and Reno heard Rude give a chuckle. "She was much sweeter than you. I don't think you could replace her if you tried."

Reno grinned, satisfied. "Sweet ain't a word ever applied to me, that's for sure." He pulled back so he could look at Rude's face. "So ya wanna fuck?"

Rude snorted softly. "Not today. I'm still dead tired from last night."

Reno leaned back, stretching, and Rude was momentarily distracted by the shifting muscles under his white skin. "Yeah, who knew standing guard was so damn tiring?" he yawned, then gave an evil grin. "I'll give you a ride to remember when I'm less knackered." He laughed sharply, feeling Rude's groin stir. "I felt that, partner. You sure you're not ready to rumble?"

"Another time," Rude muttered, looking away.

Reno got to his feet, heading for Rude's bedroom and shedding his pants along the way so he was clad only in his navy boxers. "Mind if I crash with ya, at least?" he called over his shoulder, and Rude heard him flopping onto the bed. "Your bed's way comfier. Damn, Rude."

Rude sighed and followed him into the bedroom, shrugging off his blazer and setting it on a chair. "Fine," he said, stripping down to his boxers as well and drawing the curtains against the sunlight. He didn't miss the heat in Reno's eyes as the redhead watched him undress, and he certainly didn't miss the swelling bulge in his underwear. "This is a shit idea," he commented, nodding towards Reno's crotch, but he lay down anyways, stretching his large frame out on the bed. Reno untied his ponytail and cuddled up to his side, his lithe form curling around him like a snake.

"I'm as tired as you are, big guy," the redhead murmured, nuzzling into Rude's chest. "I can't help it if my body has wanted you for so long that it gets overexcited."

They were silent for a while, Rude curving an arm around the other man and stroking up and down his ribcage. "How long?" he asked finally, and Reno stirred a little sleepily.

"Our first assignment together," the redhead said. "You told me to shut up and spot for you or the guy we were sniping would hear me, even from hundreds of yards away." A laugh rumbled in Rude's chest, and Reno smirked. "How about you?" he asked, one long-fingered hand teasing at his dark nipple and the silver ring that was thrust through it.

"I wanted you from the moment I saw you," Rude admitted in a low voice, wishing he had his shades to hide his expression. "I can't remember when I fell in love with you."

Suddenly wide awake, Reno sat up quickly, his aqua eyes wide. He almost looked scared. "I—wha—" And for once in his life, he was struck speechless. He'd suspected, of course, but hearing Rude say the actual words was far more different and moving than vague suggestion. Now he could see the slight fear in Rude's eyes, as though the dark man was waiting for him to either laugh at him or run away. Reno forced himself to relax and lay back down, hugging Rude around the chest tightly. "You already know how I feel," he managed to say.

Rude was about to reply that no, he didn't, until he thought hard about what they were doing. Reno was (so far) respecting his desire not to have sex right away and was still lying next to him. He had also explicitly said he wouldn't fuck up their relationship for casual sex. He was too proud to say the words, but he felt them. "I know," the bald man said softly. "You don't have to say it."

A hand curled over his heart in gratitude, and Reno pressed a kiss to his jaw. Curled together, the two men drifted off to sleep, some secrets yet untold hanging between them and others laid bare, bleeding like an opened heart.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for sexual content in this chapter.

Surprisingly, things returned to normal. At least, normal concerning Reno and Rude. Their relationship was the easy camaraderie it had once been, only with the knowledge that what they felt for each other was more than friendship and kissing. The kissing part only happened outside of work—much to Reno's irritation (though not his surprise) Rude refused to so much as touch him in any way that could not be considered platonic when they were on the job. "It's unprofessional," the big Turk would grumble whenever Reno would try, slapping his hand away.

Two weeks had passed, and they were still guarding Rufus around the clock, even though there had barely been a peep from SOLDIER-X. Tseng was convinced they were still after Rufus, and the other Turks were inclined to agree. SOLDIERs had never been known to give up before. Rude and Reno had tortured Leventhal to the brink of insanity and he was either extraordinarily strong-willed (unlikely) or he didn't know where the group was hiding out. For the moment, they were dead in the water.

Reno was thinking about this as he was spending yet another night checking the exits of Rufus's safehouse, bored out of his mind. "You think we'll ever find these guys?" he asked Rude idly, making sure the upstairs windows were locked. Rufus was still in his study working, his face gray with exhaustion, so the Turks kept their voices down and stayed out of his way.

"Eventually," Rude grunted, hands in his pockets. They finished their round and went back downstairs quietly, settling on the couch. An all-clear text came in from Cissnei, who was part of the group guarding the outside perimeter.

"We can't keep this up for much longer," Reno pointed out. "Lookit everyone; we're all wiped. If we go up against someone with SOLDIER strength like this, we'll get slaughtered."

"Tseng's doing what he can. What other option is there?" Secretly, Rude thought Reno might be right. They were already stretched thin, and if SOLDIER-X figured out where Rufus was staying, there wouldn't be much they could do to stop them from killing the young president. Weeks of taking back roads and alternate routes to work and home had started to set his teeth on edge in a way he was unfamiliar with. Generally, Rude was slow to anger—it was part of what made him a successful Turk—but the last couple of weeks he'd been running on minimal sleep, as had all of them. Tseng had nearly lost it when he had heard of the physical fight Rude and Reno had gotten into when they were on duty, and only Elena's soothing had gotten him to calm down. Thankfully, they'd gotten away with only a reprimand and pay cuts. Something had to give soon.

Reno leaned back, closing his eyes briefly, and Rude let himself admire the way the redhead looked, even with dark circles under his ginger lashes. "What time is it?" Reno asked, eyes still closed.

Rude checked his watch. "Almost one."

Reno groaned. "I'm sick of the night shift. I'm nocturnal now. I'm a fucking bat."

"You're way sexier than a bat," Rude said, before he could stop himself, and Reno opened one eye, grinning at him.

"You think so?" he purred.

Rude grumbled to himself, sinking lower on the couch. "You don't need me to stroke your ego," he said grumpily.

"No, but you  _could_ stroke someth—"

"Stop," Rude groaned, covering his face with his hands. "We're on a job."

"We're always on a job now," Reno said peevishly. "I'm gettin' blue balls here, Rude, and it's all Tseng's fault. Ain't got energy enough to do nothing but eat and sleep when I get off work, even if Reno Junior here wants other stuff."

Rude rolled his eyes at his partner's crudeness, but again, felt as though there was plenty of truth in the redhead's words. It hadn't been as bad, depriving himself of sexual contact when he was just pining after Reno and didn't think there was any reciprocation. Now, his groin seemed to be letting him know that his life of celibacy was not going to be an option for much longer. "It can't last forever," he told Reno. "Tseng's been working around the clock. He'll find something soon."

"He better," Reno muttered.

* * *

By a stroke of luck, Tseng called as they were heading home.

"The group of seven Turks who were in Wutai the past month have returned, so we're easing back a little now that we have more manpower," the director was saying to Reno, who almost moaned in relief.

"Does that mean we get the day off?" he asked tentatively, still a little wary of Tseng's mood.

Tseng sighed through the line. "Take tomorrow off, and come into headquarters the next day."

"You got it, boss. Hey, you get some rest too, yeah?" Reno hung up. "We got tomorrow off," he told Rude as they wearily walked up the stairs in their building. "You mind if I crash in your bed?"

"Of course not." Rude thought it amusing how Reno was still so very careful to ask each time he spent the night—which had been nearly every night, lately—as though he was scared he was being too forward, which was fairly incongruous with Reno's personality.

They fell into bed, exhausted, the two weeks of tiredness catching up all at once. Reno curled into Rude's large body, and the big Turk put an arm around him before they were both snoring gently.

* * *

Rude woke with a gasp. He was unsure if a dream or something else had forced him from sleep, but before he could wrap his mind around anything, a wave of pleasure coursed through him, stealing his breath and making his toes curl.

"Wha—" The last of the sleep finally cleared from his brain and he opened his eyes, making out a river of red hair draped across his lower belly, attached to Reno's head, which was bobbing between his legs. "Oh, Shiva," Rude choked out, his abdominal muscles tensing sharply in pleasure. Reno's clever tongue was stroking along the underside of his cock playfully, making him squirm and thrust up, and Reno's strong hand was resting on his hip, holding him down. Rude was already embarrassingly close to the edge, and the sight of Reno's pretty lips around him didn't help any. His partner shot him a wicked glance with one aqua eye, and the hand not on Rude's hip came up to tease him, feathering a light touch over his balls before pressing in slightly on the area just behind them, still sucking hard with his mouth. Rude felt his back arching, moans tearing from his mouth as his hands shot to Reno's head, fisting hard in his red hair, and like a barreling freight train, the first orgasm he'd had with another person in over ten years crashed over him. His vision flashed white, and Rude, gasping with the intensity of the pleasure pulled from him, relaxed his grip on his lover's hair in favor of the boneless calm that followed.

Reno sucked him dry, licking him one last time as Rude winced from the overstimulation. The redhead crawled his way up his body to nuzzle Rude's cheek like a cat. Still panting, Rude tangled his fingers in Reno's hair, stroking until his partner was nearly purring. It was all the motion he could manage at the moment, and Reno seemed pleased with it, but Rude could feel him hot and hard through his boxers against his side.

"That was unexpected," Rude murmured when he was able to talk.

Reno hummed a little, nibbling at his ear. "Good unexpected?"

"Obviously."

Reno grinned at him. "I woke up first for once and you were still snorin' away, big guy. Thought I'd fix it."

Rather than talk, Rude turned on his side to face Reno. The kiss started out gentle and sweet, and Rude ran a hand over the redhead's scarred chest, thumbing his nipples and drawing designs on his muscled stomach. Reno moaned into his mouth, pressing his groin closer, his kisses growing more frantic. Rude dipped two fingers beneath his waistband, his mouth curving in a smirk when Reno made a frustrated noise.

"Never…oh gods…pegged you for a tease, partner," he gasped out, throwing his head back as Rude's calloused hand wrapped around his aching length. The bigger Turk took advantage of the white neck exposed to him and leaned in to lick it. He was careful to listen for any signs of a panic attack, mindful as always of how sensitive Reno was about his neck, but there were only good sounds now though as his hand slowly started to move in long, smooth strokes over Reno's erection. Rude's teeth found a spot between Reno's ear and jaw that had the redhead jerking against him, his hands clutching at Rude's muscled arms as curses spilled from his mouth. "Fuck," Reno moaned as Rude's hand started moving faster, and one of the redhead's legs curled around Rude's, pressing them tighter together and making it difficult for Rude to continue stroking him. Rude rolled him on his back to gain better access, maneuvering his larger body over Reno's and continuing his assault on his partner's neck.

Reno's hands were scrabbling at Rude's back and the sheets, his body arching and twisting, writhing under his lover. Rude silently marveled at his sensitivity, rubbing his thumb over the head of his erection, spreading the fluid that gathered there.

"Son of a bitch," Reno cursed, his fingers digging into Rude's biceps. "Fuck, Rude, I'm so close," he whimpered, his hips moving jerkily in time with Rude's steady hand, and Rude kissed him full on the lips, muffling his cries with his tongue as Reno came hard, soaking his boxers and Rude's hand.

Rude tugged his hand free from Reno's wet boxers and wiped it on the sheets, staring down at Reno's blissed out expression. The redhead's head was leaned back with his eyes closed, lips slightly parted as he tried to regain his breath. Rude rolled back on his side and started to finger-comb Reno's hair with his clean hand again.

"What time is it?" Reno asked lazily, eyes still closed, leaning into his lover's touch.

"About four in the afternoon," Rude replied.

Reno groaned. "Tseng says we gotta go in tomorrow at the regular time. I could sleep for another two days though, man."

Rude stretched, sitting up. "We should at least eat something." He ran a hand over Reno's lean torso, feeling his sharp ribs under his skin. "You especially."

"Aww, ya worried about my health, partner?" Reno crooned in a falsetto, fluttering his eyelashes, and Rude hit him lightly over the head.

"Not anymore," he muttered, pulling on a new pair of boxers and his pants. He looked over at Reno, who was squirming out of his wet boxers.

"Gross," the redhead muttered. "Gimme a pair of boxers, partner."

"They'll just fall off your skinny ass," Rude objected, but he tossed him a pair anyways.

"Damn," Reno sighed as Rude was proven right. "I'll just go commando." He pulled on his pants from the day before and tied back his long hair.

They relocated to Rude's couch and ordered food, as per their usual routine when they had time off, which hadn't been often lately. Reno was taking up most of the couch space, his head in Rude's lap as they watched the news.

"It's weird not seeing reports of people dying," Reno commented, and Rude grunted in agreement, running his fingers through his partner's hair.

"We don't stop the ex-SOLDIERs and that might change," Rude pointed out, and Reno sighed.

"I can't fuckin' get used to bein' a good guy."

"We'll never be like Strife, that's for sure."

"Well, yeah. He's a real hero. Ain't like us." Reno shifted to stare up at the ceiling. "Wouldn't care so much about being good if the fucking guilt would lift."

Rude nodded. He knew about guilt. "Bet the president feels it pretty hard, even if he doesn't show it," he said.

Reno sighed again. "Rufus is tougher than all his Turks combined," he said with a grin. "He ain't our president for nothing."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex. Basically, nothing but sex. Enjoy it, ya horny bastards :P

Reno stared at his desk distastefully. "I can't believe I missed this," he said sourly, shuffling through the papers. Even though there was a hit out on Rufus, there was still plenty of other work to be done. He glanced over at Rude, who was bent over his desk dutifully, and bit back a grin. Even paperwork couldn't dampen his delight at finally getting some action from his lover, even if they still hadn't gone all the way. Reno tipped his chair back, stretching. If just a handjob from Rude had felt  _that_  good, he couldn't imagine how being fucked like him would feel. He chuckled to himself.

Rude heard Reno giggling like a manic girl scout from across the room, and knew his partner was thinking of something dirty. Rolling his eyes, Rude concentrated on his work again, blocking out Reno's distractions.

Five o'clock had nearly rolled around when Tseng called them to his office.

"What the hell, Tseng, it's almost time to clock out," Reno griped, but fell short when he saw the look on Tseng's tired face.

"They slipped up," the director said, his pale lips curving into a smirk. "At least, we think they did. We have reports of a deformed man buying supplies in a corner store outside town. I had Cissnei track him to what we thought was an abandoned warehouse. It could be SOLDIER-X, but it could also merely be some poor fellow who has been mutated by the war. Either way, when we're sure, I'm sending the two of you in the first wave. You're our most experienced Turks, aside from myself."

Reno kicked his feet up on his desk. "You got it, boss man. We should go get some rest, yeah? Wanna be our best for the raid." He grinned wickedly, and Tseng frowned at him.

"Fine, you can go. Remind me to dock your pay again, Reno."

"What?" the redhead yelped. "Why?"

"For being a lazy ass," Tseng said as he left the room.

"I'm gonna be broke in no time," Reno muttered.

"Maybe if you just kept your mouth shut," Rude told him, getting to his feet. "You know Tseng's just pissed you don't respect him."

"I respect him!" Reno shot back.

"Then don't mouth off to him."

"It's part of my charm," Reno said sulkily as they went home, still watching carefully for threats and doubling back a couple times. The normally short trip took three times as long that way, but they were used to it by now.

* * *

It took Tseng only three days to be sure that the people in the abandoned warehouse were indeed SOLDIER-X. He had worked Cissnei, their best scout, to the bone, and subsequently excused her from the upcoming battle. He even sent Reno and Rude home early to get more rest before the next day.

Reno was quiet on the way home, which made Rude wonder what he was thinking about. He asked if he was all right and received a one-word distracted answer from his partner, making him worry even more.

"Your place?" Reno asked finally as they approached their building. He grinned.

Rude rolled his eyes behind his shades. "You just want me for my bed," he accused, but nevertheless led the way up to his own apartment.

"Mmmaybe," Reno hummed, shrugging off his blazer and heading to the bedroom, flopping down on the aforementioned bed. "And your hot bod," he added as Rude followed him into the room, loosening his tie. He watched Rude strip off his jacket and tie with a quiet, predatory look. "C'mere," he said finally, reaching out to his partner, and Rude obeyed, laying down next to him. Reno carefully pulled off his sunglasses, tossing them on the bedside table.

"Be careful with those," Rude griped, but then Reno was kissing him, and he forgot why he was irritated. The redhead seemed almost in a hurry, his lips hungry and frantic and his hands busy as they fumbled with the buttons on Rude's shirt. Rude pulled away slightly, looking into Reno's aqua eyes. "What is it?" he asked, brows drawn together.

Reno's jaw tightened a little. "We might die tomorrow," he said quietly, his hands stilling on Rude's half-opened shirt.

"Reno…"

"I'm not going to fucking die without knowing what it feels like to be with you first," the redhead blurted out sharply, a dull red flush rising in his cheeks. He kept his eyes downcast, embarrassed.

"Okay."

Reno looked up, asking, "Really?"

In answer, Rude brought their lips back together again, feeling Reno's hands resume unbuttoning his shirt, pushing it off his broad shoulders. Rude started to remove Reno's shirt, but the redhead's hands were already on the waist of Rude's pants, hurriedly undoing them and tugging at the material. His lips were devouring Rude's neck, that sense of franticness back as he nipped and sucked.

Heat was settling over Rude's entire body, concentrating in his lower belly but also radiating to his limbs. Reno's hands and lips were everywhere, and before he knew it, Rude's clothing was gone. "Wait," he gasped, pulling away.

"What?" Reno murmured, curling a leg around him and nibbling his ear.

"Slow down a little." Rude untangled his limbs and reached over to dig in the nightstand, pulling out the bottle of lube that was stashed there and setting it on top of the little table.

Reno felt his hesitance and peered closely into Rude's face. "Are you…are you  _nervous_?" He could've sworn Rude blushed, but his skin was too dark to see it well.

"It's been a very long time," the bald man said finally. "Since I've had sex with anyone, let alone a man. I'm…out of practice." He picked up the lube and regarded it for a second, then handed it to Reno. "Why don't you top?"

Reno stared at him, eyes wide. "You serious, man?" He'd never expected to be any position but bottom with someone as dominant-looking as Rude.

The bigger man lay back. "Like I said, it's been a while. I don't wanna hurt you."

"Have you  _ever_  bottomed in your  _life_?" Reno almost screeched, and Rude gave him a stern look.

"Keep your damn voice down. And yes, I have."

Reno raised an eyebrow. "You were damn frisky in your youth, weren't ya, partner?" he said with a grin, and Rude cleared his throat.

"Would you get on with it?" he snapped, embarrassed.

Reno's grin grew until it was positively feline. "Oh,  _now_ you're in a hurry," he purred, setting down the lube rising up on his knees to shrug out of his unbuttoned shirt, dragging it down his pale shoulders and arms with excruciating slowness. "Don't worry, baby, I'll take good care of ya." He tossed his shirt free from the bed and ran his hands leisurely down his toned chest, fingers caressing old scars, rubbing over the ridges of his hard stomach as he let his head fall back, exposing his white neck. Rude, still lying on the bed, gave a little growl, and out of slitted eyes Reno saw his hands fist in the sheets, his cock swelling with blood. The redhead smirked a little, tracing the hard lines of the V of muscle tone that started at his hips and disappeared into his trousers.

Rude struggled to keep still on the bed, but Reno's little striptease wasn't helping his self- control. He clenched his teeth, watching Reno hook his thumbs in his waistband and slowly draw his pants and boxers down. The redhead was already hard and dripping, and he hissed as the fabric grazed his erection on its way down. Rude finally let himself move, tracing his fingers up his lover's strong thigh as Reno's pants were thrown in the same direction of his shirt.

Seeing Reno's beautiful, scarred body exposed in front of him was doing crazy things to Rude's libido. If he hadn't been turned on before, the intense throbbing in his lower regions told him he was more than ready to go now. Reno let him admire for a moment, then slithered up his body to brace himself over Rude. He kissed him roughly, nipping hard at his lips.

"How do you want it?" Reno murmured, licking a trail to Rude's heavily pierced ear.

"Uhn! Like this is fine," Rude managed as a clever tongue teased at the jewelry in his ear. He brought his hands up to Reno's shoulders and back, feeling the hard planes of his body under his calloused palms. When he lightly scratched up Reno's back, the redhead arched a little in pleasure.

Reno reached blindly over to feel for the tube of lubricant, kissing Rude's muscled chest and then easing one of his nipple rings into his mouth. Rude groaned a little and his hips thrust up, making Reno gasp as well as their erections ground together. He moved lower, gently pulling up one of Rude's knees to give himself better access.

It had been a little while since Reno had topped anyone, but it was more the fact that it was Rude that made him nervous. He was more than confident in his skills in bed, but he'd never slept with anyone he cared for as much as his partner, and the thought of what they were about to do almost scared him as much as it thrilled him. Shaking his head a little, Reno snapped open the bottle and slicked up three of his fingers. Leaning up, Reno went back to sucking on Rude's nipple, distracting him from any discomfort that he might feel. Stroking his free hand along the bigger man's side, Reno slid a slippery finger into him, studying Rude's face for any signs of pain. His dark face clenched a little, but his body stayed relaxed, and so Reno worked the finger in a little more, stroking the heat inside. The tightness around the digit was almost painful, and he waited until it eased up a little bit before grabbing one of Rude's nipple rings in his teeth and tugging, slightly. As Rude moaned at the feeling, Reno worked another finger inside of him, scissoring them gently.

Rude felt the discomfort of having someone's fingers in him after so long, but it was muted. Most of his attention was focused on what Reno was doing to his nipples with his tongue, because it was making him moan out loud—something that he didn't normally do. Dimly he felt Reno add a third finger, fanning them out to stretch him thoroughly. One corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk and he curled his fingers upwards, searching and stroking until he was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath from Rude, the bigger man's body jerking and arching upwards in pleasure. Reno stroked the spot a little more, loving how Rude looked, his brown eyes hazy with lust, sweat making his body shine as his abdominal muscles tensed hard from the sensation of having his prostate rubbed.

"Reno." The name fell from his lips unbidden, a long, slow murmur that Rude hardly heard himself say, he was so dizzy with arousal.

Reno felt the muscles give a little and relax around his fingers. A couple more experimental scissoring motions and he pulled his fingers free, giving Rude's nipple ring one last tug with his teeth. "You got a condom?" the redhead asked, his voice low and husky from desire.

"Fuck," Rude muttered, panting. "Don't think so."

"I probably got one in my pants," Reno said, getting off the bed to look through his trouser pockets. "Here we go."

"Of course you do," Rude muttered, leaning back onto the pillows. Reno grinned at him, climbing back onto the bed with the small square of foil, before leaning up to kiss him, flicking his tongue into his mouth.

"You should thank me, partner," he murmured against his lips. "Now I don't gotta leave you high and dry." Reno reached for the lube again, tearing open the condom with his teeth and rolling it over his cock with a groan of desire. He was harder than a rock, almost quivering with the thought that he'd get to be inside Rude soon.

The bigger Turk reached over to take the lube from Reno, squirting some onto his hand and slicking up the redhead's erection for him, giving it a couple more pumps than were necessary.

"Oh, Gods," Reno groaned, letting his head fall back. The feeling of Rude's hand around him disappeared and he caught his breath, curling one hand under the knee that was already raised, spreading it and opening his partner a little further. His chest came down to press against Rude's and Reno kissed him gently on the lips, the head of his cock nudging at Rude's opening. "You good?"

"Do it," Rude grunted, his muscles tense with want. "Oh, Gaia," he breathed in his deep voice as Reno pushed forward, sliding in smoothly halfway before pausing to let Rude adjust.

"Fucking hell, oh Shiva's  _fucking_  tits, Rude, you feel amazing," Reno moaned, his blue-green eyes fluttering closed. The tightness around him was exquisite, making his arms tremble with the effort of holding himself up.

"I'm good," Rude said, his voice a little strained. "You can go further."

Reno pushed forward the rest of the way until he was as deep as he could go, then paused to breathe in a few shuddering gasps of air, leaning his forehead on Rude's sweat-slick chest. His whole body shook, trying to stave off orgasm.

"Move," Rude gritted.

"In a minute," Reno gasped. "Unless ya want this to be over before it starts." He felt a blush darken his cheeks. He hadn't almost come so fast since he was in his teens. When Reno had a handle on himself, he pulled out almost all the way, then pushed back in slowly. Rude's arms came up around him, stroking a line down his back. Reno kept his pace slow and gentle, even though he thought it would kill him. If Rude truly hadn't been topped in over ten years, he had to be feeling a little tender, even with all the preparation.

Rude gritted his teeth. He was feeling a little pain from the stretch, but it was nothing compared to the irritation he felt about being treated like he was weak. Reno wasn't kind and gentle by nature, he was hard and rough around the edges, and Rude wanted that, not this strangeness. "Harder, Reno," he growled. "I'm not gonna fucking break." To prove his point, he rolled his hips up, forcing Reno in firmly and making the redhead choke out a gasp.

"Fine," Reno said through his bared teeth, snapping his hips forward roughly, wrenching a groan from Rude. He slipped his arms under his lover's knees to gain some leverage, setting a fast, steady pace that pulled moans from both of them at every pass.

Rude couldn't remember if sex had always been this amazing. It felt like electricity was sparking from where Reno's body touched his, his hands on his knees, their lower bodies melted together so he couldn't tell where he ended and Reno began. The intense pleasure was making his eyelids droop, but Rude kept his gaze on Reno's gorgeous face, admiring every expression, every flash of ecstasy that played across it. The other Turk's head was tilted back, his lips parted and eyes closed as he gasped for breath, the steady rolling of his hips never ceasing or breaking rhythm. Sweat was making his scarred chest shine and his hands slip on Rude's legs, so Rude reached for him, closing his hands around Reno's arms and pulling him down for a messy kiss, all tongues and saliva. Their chests rubbed together, and Rude accidentally bit down on hard on Reno's lip as his nipple rings tugged pleasurably. Reno moaned, his hips jerking, and Rude smiled a little against his mouth. You couldn't be a Turk and not be a little bit in love with pain. He raked his nails hard across Reno's back.

"Fuck!" Reno cried against him, arching, his rhythm finally faltering. They were pressed together, Rude's arms holding Reno loosely, and he dug his nails in hard, because he knew how much Reno got off on it. Then one of Reno's jerking thrusts hit his prostate like a battering ram, and Rude let out a loud moan at the wave of pleasure that coursed through his body into his bones. Reno hit the same spot one more time, and then all of a sudden he was pulling out and away.

Before Rude could catch his breath and ask what was wrong, Reno was nudging him onto his side, settling in behind him so he was spooning the bigger Turk. Rude felt Reno's perfect lips at the back of his neck, kissing gently and then licking the sweat that was glazing his skin. In a heartbeat he had slid back inside, the head of his cock nudging against Rude's prostate again. Rude reached back, digging his nails in again, this time into Reno's thigh. He felt the redhead's teeth sink into the thick muscle of his neck as he reached over Rude's hip and took hold of his dripping cock, sliding his calloused hand along its length.

The double stimulation made Rude curse, unable to decide if he should press back into Reno's thrusting hips or forward into the slick hole of Reno's hand. He could feel his orgasm building in his loins, and was amazed he'd been able to hold it back as long as he had. Reno's labored breaths were ghosting over his ear in time with the wet slapping sound of their hips coming together. His hand slid over Rude's length, jerking him off with a frantic roughness that told Rude he was close as well.

"You're so fucking tight, Rude," Reno groaned in his ear. "Fucking hell you feel so good, even better than I expected." He hardly heard what he was saying; the words were just pouring out of him as he pounded into his lover, driving them both closer and closer to the edge. Rude gasped out something that sounded like encouragement, or maybe Reno's name, his fingers digging into Reno's thigh even harder—there would be bruises tomorrow.

Rude felt his orgasm from a mile away before it crashed over him, his body wound tight as his cock bucked in Reno's grip, right as the redhead whimpered out, "Oh, gods, baby, I'm so close," his movements growing jerky and uncoordinated. He hit Rude's prostate one more time, hard, and his hand squeezed Rude' erection one last time as it released thick white liquid over his fingers. Reno nestled his forehead in between Rude's shoulder blades where the head of the dragon tattooed on his back was. "Fucking  _hell_ ," he wailed out as Rude tightened around him, and he buried himself deep one last time before going rigid, then coming hard with a full-bodied shudder.

They lay together panting for several minutes, still joined together, Reno's sticky hand still around Rude's softening cock. When he could move again, he wiped his hand on the sheets and pushed himself up on an elbow, feathering his fingers over Rude's hip. The bigger man's eyes were closed, his breathing still ragged.

"You okay, partner?" Reno asked softly, pushing back his ponytail, which was sticking to his sweaty skin. He pulled out gently, not missing Rude's slight wince, before pulling off the condom and knotting it, then tossing it into the trash.

Rude rolled onto his back, caressing Reno's chest with one hand, then pulling him down into a brief kiss. "Better than," he said, then winced again. "Just a little sore."

Reno leaned down to dig through his pants again, pulling out a potion and tossing it over. "Ain't gonna be much good in a fight if you're limping," he said with a wicked grin. Rude gave him a sour glance, but drank the potion anyways, sighing in relief when the ache lifted.

They lay back down, curled around each other, and Reno asked, "You nervous?"

"About tomorrow?" Rude considered. "Don't think so. If it's my time, it's my time."

Reno chuckled. "You ain't dyin' without me, partner."

Rude smiled to himself. "Our time, then."

"Damn straight." Reno's voice was sleepy. "Don' think I wanna die yet though. Not when the sex is that good." He turned over, tugging until Rude moved to spoon against his back, his arm loosely around Reno's waist.

"This is okay?" Rude asked, careful as always of Reno's phobia.

"S'fine," Reno slurred, sounding as though he would pass out at any moment. "I know it's you."

Rude buried his face in the back of Reno's neck, smelling his musky sweat smell and feeling the softness of his hair there. It was still early and they hadn't eaten dinner, but he was tired enough not to care. "I love you," Rude said into his neck, stroking Reno's hip with his hand.

Reno shifted a little, pressing closer, his guards down from tiredness. He mumbled something that suspiciously sounded like "Love y'too," and Rude smiled, closing his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for an itty bit of sexual content.

Rude woke to the sound of cries. Half-asleep still, he blearily looked around. In front of him was Reno's fire-red hair; his lover was tightly encased in Rude's arms, but the redhead was writhing as though in pain, and howling as though someone was beating him with a red-hot poker. Rude shook his head hard to wake himself up completely, wincing when Reno's flailing elbow caught him in the ribs.

"Stop it!" Reno was wailing, still thrashing, fighting to get free. "Gaia damn you, get your fucking hands off of me!"

 _Oh_ , Rude thought, pulling his arms back. In his sleep he must have held Reno too tightly. His partner was still whimpering, clawing at his chest and neck, and Rude couldn't tell if he was even awake. He had no idea what time it was; the room and the outside world were dark, but a slash of light came through the window from the street lamp outside.

"Reno!" Rude's voice was loud and urgent, hoping to get through the mental barriers he knew were surrounding Reno's mind; he'd experienced them plenty of times himself. He was itching to grab ahold of Reno's wrists so he would stop hurting himself, but knew it would make the other man even crazier to feel someone touching him and not know who it was. "Reno, wake up, you're only dreaming!" Still Reno whimpered, squirming on the bed. "It's me," Rude said finally, his voice softer. "It's Rude." He chanced a touch to his lover's hip, just a light brush of fingers, and Reno shuddered, finally stilling.

The redhead sat up sharply, drawing in a deep, rasping breath. His eyes were open, wide and terrified and large in his pale face. The scratches he'd clawed into his chest were red and oozing and looked painful, but he didn't seem to notice. He was holding a hand to his throat as though to make sure it was still there, his lean chest heaving.

Rude reached over to turn on the bedside lamp to get some more light, making Reno flinch a little at the sudden brightness. "Reno," Rude murmured, laying a hand on his knee, stroking softly as he leaned over to peer into his lover's face. "You're all right. It's only me. Breathe in for me, slowly." His deep voice seemed to reassure Reno as always, and the redhead obeyed, taking a long, slow breath. "Now let it out," Rude encouraged, sliding his hand up Reno's thigh, petting gently.

Reno shifted a little, leaning his head against Rude's bare chest, and Rude felt how cold and clammy his forehead was. Hesitantly he brought up a hand to caress Reno's bare back, running his fingers down the knobs of his spine. "Okay?" he murmured against his partner's hair.

"Yeah," Reno rasped, then cleared his throat. "I'm fine now." His voice was quiet, subdued, and he wouldn't look at Rude.

"Lie down. I'll be right back." Rude waited until Reno obeyed, then left the bedroom to search through his bathroom cabinets for disinfectant.

Reno closed his eyes, willing his heart to stop pounding. His dream was still fresh in his mind, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, mainly because he knew it hadn't been a dream, but a memory, and he hadn't spent time dwelling on that particular memory in many years. The bed dipped a little, and he knew Rude had returned. Something damp was pressed to the scratches on his chest, and he hissed at the stinging, opening his eyes to Rude's dark face. It was composed, but the deep brown eyes were worried as the bigger man cleaned the cuts on Reno's chest. He started to move to tend to the ones on his neck, but Reno recoiled, taking the cloth from him.

"Don't," the redhead whispered, pressing it to his neck. "I'll do it."

Rude sat back a little. "You wanna talk about it?"

Reno let out a quiet little scoff, reaching up to massage his temples with his free hand. "No. I don't know. It's stupid."

"Obviously not," Rude told him, and Reno looked up at his partner, struck by how hurt Rude looked. Reno chewed at his lip. Rude had trusted him with the most intimate details of his past, Gaia, he'd even cried about it in front of him, and Reno had never seen Rude cry before over anything. But the memory was still fresh in his mind and cold as ice in his chest.

"I can't," Reno told him. "I can't think about this right now." He raked his hands through his hair, tugging it hard. The pain helped ground him a little.

Rude heard the alarming rasp return to Reno's breathing and nodded hurriedly. "It's fine." He ran his fingers up Reno's chest, pinching his nipple gently. Reno let out a little sigh, then opened one eye, smirking at Rude.

"A little distraction would be nice, y'know," he coaxed, rubbing his bare leg against Rude's invitingly.

Rude almost smiled a little at Reno's swift change of pace. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to Reno's chest carefully, watching and listening for signs of discomfort. He trailed warm kisses from his lover's collarbone down to his pectorals, careful not to hurt any of the open scratches, curling his tongue around the same nipple he'd pinched.

"Ohhh," Reno breathed out, his back arching up a little. Rude's hand was rubbing lightly over his hard stomach, slowly tracing lower and lower. The bald Turk switched to suck on the nipple that had been previously neglected, and his free hand reached up to Reno's lips, tracing their shape. The redhead opened his mouth, taking in two of Rude's fingers and coating them with saliva, that amazing tongue of his curling around them.

Rude bit back a groan at the feeling of Reno's tongue on his fingers, his other hand finally reaching his partner's groin. He brushed a thumb along the base of Reno's cock and felt it jump a little, hardening rapidly as he reached further to cup his balls. Reno let out a little choking moan around his fingers. Rude leaned down, taking the tip of his cock in his mouth and sucking gently. He pulled his fingers free from Reno's moaning mouth and brought them down to trace a line behind his lover's balls to his puckered entrance. Reno jerked a little, his strong thighs tensing as he spread his legs invitingly. Rude took him into his mouth, inch by inch, simultaneously breaching him with his finger, slowly rubbing against his heated walls as Reno clenched around him involuntarily, his hands fisting in the sheets, his head thrown back.

"Fuck, Rude," he panted as Rude's lips reached the base of his cock, his tongue flicking against the underside. "Titan's  _fucking_  balls, that's good. Out of practice, my ass."

Rude gave a somewhat muffled chuckle and pressed his saliva-slick finger in further, trying to locate the spot that would make Reno see stars. He pulled his mouth back a little, focusing on the underside of the head of Reno's cock with his tongue. Fluid dripped from the tip, flooding his taste buds with a bitter musk that was all Reno. The redhead was moaning a litany of encouragement, his hips thrusting erratically. Rude reached down with his free hand to alleviate some of the tension in his own groin, jerking himself off with hard, practiced movements.

Focusing his attention back on Reno, he moved his finger a little, stroking upwards, and Reno arched up sharply with a howl. "Shiva's motherfucking tits, do that again," he cried as his vision flashed white. Rude obeyed, sucking his entire length into his mouth again. He'd always been proud of his un-sensitive gag reflex, but now more than ever as his partner's hands clenched the sheets hard, his knuckles whitening with the strength of his grip—Reno definitely seemed to appreciate the rhythmic stroking of his throat muscles as he swallowed. The redhead cried out again as Rude pressed down on his prostate firmly, hard enough to add a little twinge of pain that had Reno exploding, shooting down his throat.

Rude swallowed quickly before he could choke on his partner's cum—Reno would never let him hear the end of it if he did—and slowly slid his finger out of his lover, giving his own cock a couple more smooth strokes before coming over his own hand with a groan. Reno's legs were quivering with the strength of his orgasm, his eyes closed as he regained his breath. Rude moved up to lay beside him, pressing his lips to his shoulder briefly.

"Nice distraction," Reno said in a dazed sort of voice. He turned his head to look at Rude, raising an eyebrow. "Sucking dick must be like ridin' a bike, hey?" he said with a grin. "Y'never quite forget."

Rude snorted out a laugh, but Reno could tell he was happy with the underlying praise. He hadn't expressed a huge amount doubt in his abilities beyond letting himself be topped, but Reno knew he was sensitive about his period of celibacy.

When he could move again and Rude was busying himself in the shower, Reno reached for his phone to check the time. It was about six in the morning; they'd slept nearly the entire night through and now natural light was starting to peek in through the windows. "Damn," Reno sighed as the bathroom door opened, letting a cloud of steam out, and Rude reappeared, a towel around his waist. "As much as I love crackin' skulls, lyin' in bed with you is better."

"If we don't die today, you get first dibs," Rude told him, going to his dresser to dig out some clothes. Reno sat up quickly.

" _First_  dibs, partner? Who else ya got in your bed?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"You're lucky I know you're joking," Reno grumbled. "Never thought I was a jealous guy before. Now I'd waste anyone who laid a hand on you. Not that you'd let 'em," he added, thinking appreciatively of Rude's bulging muscles.

Rude pulled on his uniform as Reno sat up, stretching out his shoulders and arms. The cuts on his chest and neck pulled a little and he winced. He took his own quick shower and then paused at the bedroom mirror, inspecting the scratches.

"Want a potion for those?"

Reno pulled a face, sitting back down on the bed. "Guess so. Can't have Tseng thinking we had a hot sexy night of fun and got too carried away."

"Part of that  _did_  happen," Rude muttered, tossing the small bottle to Reno, who winked at him. He tossed back the potion, then grimaced as his stomach gave a loud growl.

"Shoulda at least eaten last night."

" _You_  were the one who fell asleep," Rude told him, leaning over to look in the mirror as he knotted his tie. "Don't blame me." Satisfied with his tie knot, he dug in the drawer where they had started keeping a few of Reno's clothes, throwing his uniform at him. The shirt caught Reno in the face and he laughed, pulling it on and buttoning it up halfway as per usual. The stark whiteness of the shirt framed the rapidly healing scratches.

"Whatever. You got any food?" Reno asked, cinching his belt as he wandered into the kitchen.

"I eat more than takeout," Rude pointed out, sliding on his shades. By the time he had finished getting ready for work, Reno had whipped up scrambled eggs and toast, an impressive feat for someone whose own kitchen consisted mostly of takeout boxes and alcohol.

Reno handed him a plate of food. "Don't look me like that," he said sourly. "Just because I don't cook don't mean I can't. It tastes fine."

A careful bite told Rude that the food was decent enough, and it was early enough that they could take their time, so he ate slowly. "Don't eat too much," he cautioned Reno, who was wolfing down his food like a starving man. "You fight on a full stomach, the first punch to the gut you get and you'll hurl all over your opponent."

"Maybe that's my strategy," Reno said through his mouthful, but he slowed down a little. "Puke on the ex-SOLDIERs and maybe they'll get so grossed out they'll quit tryin' to kill us." He started laughing, then choked and began to cough.

"I'll stick with the standard fists and firearms," Rude muttered, sticking his empty plate in the dishwasher and finishing up his coffee. Reno was still coughing, so he reached over and pounded him on the back.

Reno was about to just toss his plate in the sink, but one sharp glance from Rude made him sigh and slide it into the dishwasher as well. "Fuckin' making me domestic, Rude," he muttered.

"Not a bad thing, with the way you live," Rude shot back, setting his empty mug in the dishwasher. "We should go."

* * *

An hour later they were crouching in a ramshackle building with Tseng, Elena, and a slew of other Turks, all armed to the teeth. Reno was filling the magazine of his handgun, the rhythmic clicks of the bullets echoing slightly in the room.

Tseng had a map spread out on the ground between them all. "We'll split up and surround the warehouse they're in," he was saying. "When I give the signal, move in. Take prisoners if you can, but with SOLDIER strength, it's more likely you'll have to go for the kill. Stay on your toes." He split them into teams, and Reno was uneasy to learn that he and Rude were each leading a group, which meant they would be separated. "Don't look at me like that, Reno," Tseng said. "You and Rude make a good team, but you're also two of my best individual fighters. I need you both as leaders." He turned back to the rest of the group. "Elena, take your group and go to the north side. Reno, the east, Rude the south, and I'll hit the west." They all nodded. "Take your positions. Make sure you're not seen, and wait for my order. Dismissed."

Reno holstered his gun, glancing over the faces of the Turks assigned to him. Most looked hardened enough, but a couple still had the eager looks of rookies. He frowned, wondering if he was taking them to their deaths, then turned his attention to Rude, who was lingering by his side. He looked up into Rude's eyes—well, his shades—and conveyed all he could about what he was feeling in a single glance. "Find me after, yeah, partner?" was all Reno said by way of goodbye, but as he was turning away he felt the light touch of Rude's calloused fingers, brushing against his hand in the smallest, most tender of gestures. He closed his eyes briefly, pushing back the nagging feeling that he might never see his lover again. He had never let his feelings affect his battles before, and he wasn't about to start now.

They crept into position, silent as mice. What Reno had first pictured as a single abandoned warehouse had been retrofitted into a spread of buildings, all close together, but by and large functioning as a small community. The map in Tseng's position had shown what looked like dorm rooms; clearly the group of mutated SOLDIERs only left the premises when they had to.  _They live like lepers_ , Reno thought, and although they were criminally insane and trying to kill his president, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor bastards, having to live like outlaws because of something beyond their control.

A hand signal from him had his group drawing their weapons. He motioned them to spread out as they approached the first building, and pressing his back against the wall, Reno edged over to peer through the window. Sure enough, he could see people inside.

Tseng's voice crackled through his earpiece. "Move in," the director said, and that was all the encouragement Reno needed. He eyed the door, noting the flimsiness of the wood it was made of, then took a couple quiet steps back.

His kick splintered the lock, exploding the door inwards in an arc of shattered wood, and one of the ex-SOLDIERS who had been standing near the doorway cried out as he was blinded. Reno felled him with another kick, putting a bullet in his skull before any of the others could even blink, the muffled click of his silencer barely audible. He barely paused to look at the body as some sixth sense made him throw up a block right in time, and he was knocked backwards. Reno hit the wall with a groan, feeling like a battering ram had hit him, and his handgun dropped from numb fingers. He shook the dizziness away and looked up, face to face with…something. He surmised it was a human, but it more closely resembled one of the creatures in the Nibelheim reactor's tanks—hard, lethal-looking spikes protruded from the ex-SOLDIER's arms and back, blackened at the tips and sharp as needles.

"Shit," Reno blurted out, barely registering the sounds of his Turks fighting around him. He looked into eyes that were still human, lit with the wild light of bloodlust. "Man, I heard you guys were deformed, but shit, you look like a damn porcupine, son!"

"Whose fault do you think it is?" the ex-SOLDIER snarled, and Reno ducked the fist that came at him, coming up under the spiked arm to ram his shoulder into the creature's stomach.

"Ow," he muttered as he hit skin that was much harder than it should have been. The creature stumbled back a little, but looked otherwise unharmed. "You fucking idiots, Rufus is not his father!" he added, backing up for another attack and rubbing his shoulder.

"You think we care?" the ex-SOLDIER screamed at him, leaping forward.

Reno ducked again, unable to do anything but dodge as he was backed into the wall. He was barely able to see the blurs that were the ex-SOLDIER's punches, having to rely on all his instinct and expertise to avoid them. One of the spikes on the back of an arm grazed his stomach when he was too slow, tearing through his blazer and shirt to cut a shallow but painful slash on his abdomen. Reno gasped with pain and faltered, giving the creature enough time to fist a clawed hand in his shirt and slam him into the wall.

"Look at what we are," the ex-SOLDIER hissed in his face, and Reno made a face at his putrid breath. "Do we deserve this life? Does  _anyone_? Someone has to pay, and your precious president is our only option. Before long he'll be fucking up the planet and the people again!"

"You're whining out your sob story to the wrong person," Reno said coldly, staring straight into the creature's eyes. "All I'm doin' here is my job, and my job is to protect Rufus." He wrestled a hand behind himself and in a flash, was pulling his spare pistol from the back of his pants, jamming it under the creature's chin and pulling the trigger. Acid green blood spurted and Reno turned his head to avoid it, but still it splattered his chest and part of his face. "Fuck, that burns," he yelped, stepping over the ex-SOLDIER's body, surveying the damage of the rest of the men. A glance told him that most of his Turks were still on their feet.

He knelt by a body clad in the familiar navy trousers and blazers. Reno reached for the young man's throat, testing for a pulse even though he knew it was futile. The man's—boy's, really—eyes were wide and glassy; his neck had clearly been snapped.  _Poor bastard._ "Can the rest of you still move?" Reno asked, closing the young Turk's dead eyes and rising to his feet. "Stevens, slap a Cure on that," he ordered, nodding to a young woman who was favoring a broken arm. The rest of them only had scratches. "Let's move."

They moved, working through building after building, some of them occupied, most of them empty. Reno lost two more Turks and gained several more injuries, which he steadfastly ignored. They were nearing the center of the compound, and Reno was sick of seeing once-humans with hard spikes of flesh bristling their bodies. Once in a while he encountered an ex-SOLDIER who still looked mostly human, but had eyes blank of any intelligence, mouth gaping and drooling. Those were almost worse.

Tseng's voice came crackling through his earpiece urgently. "All of you, fall back!" There was a ripping sound and he cried out in what sounded like pain. "Regroup at our starting point."

Reno cursed to himself. They were nearly at the command center, presumably where the leaders were located. By regrouping they would gain back some strength, but also let the enemy gain back theirs, but orders were orders. "Copy that," was all Reno could say, and Elena's voice echoed him.

Tseng was sporting a bloody cut down one side of his face when Reno and his remaining Turks arrived in the abandoned building they had all been grouped in not three hours earlier, and Elena was bandaging his upper arm, her deep blue eyes sharp with worry.

"What the hell, boss man?" Reno asked as he approached. "We almost had 'em." Tseng was silent.

"Didn't you hear it?" Elena asked, looking up from the bandage she was applying.

"Hear what?" Reno asked. He looked around. "Rude ain't here yet?"

Tseng pulled back his blazer, showing a cluster of wounds on his stomach that looked like shrapnel injuries. "Rude's group and mine met up, right outside the command center. They hit us with frag grenades."

Reno was trembling a little. "And?" he bit out. Tseng's jaw tightened, and Elena picked up the story.

"From what I understand, they were going for Tseng. They know he's the leader. Rude knocked him out of the way, and they got him instead."

"Got." Reno said in a dead voice, silently asking for clarification.

"Captured," Tseng corrected. "He's not dead. Not that I know of."

Reno was shaking harder now. "Then why the  _fuck_  are we here instead of going to get him?" he asked in low voice, struggling not to lose control.

"There's no way we can take on their leaders with these numbers," Tseng snapped. "They took out Rude's and my entire squads, and you and Elena clearly lost some as well. Shinra doesn't  _have_  a military anymore, Reno. We're all that's left, and we can't go in now without a plan. It would be suicide."

Reno ripped off his earpiece and hurled it across the room, narrowly missing one of the Turks. "I don't  _care_!" he growled. His hands were shaking and twitching, his insides twisting with anxiety. It felt like his intestines had been replaced with vipers. "I can't stand here while they're doing Ifrit knows what to my partner!" he yelled, forgetting who he was talking to.

Tseng was on his feet now, looking unsteady, but still regal. "All of you, go back to headquarters," he said in a quiet, authoritative voice. "Get fixed by our doctors, and rest up. Reno, Elena, stay here." He waited until the other Turks had filed out, then turned his attention to Reno, who was still looking murderous.

"Reno," he started, but the redhead was having none of it.

"You prick," he snarled at his superior. "If you had laid out a more careful plan, if you hadn't separated us, I woulda been there to watch Rude's back, like always! Now who the fuck knows what's gonna happen to him? He could be dying! I'm supposed to  _fucking_ be there! Neither of us is supposed to die alone!"

"We all die alone!" Tseng thundered, his calm finally shattering. He shoved Reno into the wall by the shoulders, knocking the breath out of him. "Listen to me for once in your life, damn you! Go back to headquarters, and we will regain our strength. We'll come back for Rude."

Reno shoved him back, not caring if he injured him further. "We need to get him  _now!_ " he growled. "If you won't fucking do anything about it, then let me by and I'll go get him myself!" He was two seconds away from flipping his boss onto his back, but the last sane part of his brain told him not to. He was already in more trouble than he could rightly handle, and doing something like that would result in him getting fired, killed, or both. Instead he simply lunged past Tseng, and in his weakened state, the director lost his grip on Reno's shoulders. The redhead was barreling towards the door and was nearly there when he was tackled around the waist by a small blond figure.  _Fuck, I forgot about Elena._  The woman had either been brushing up on her hand-to-hand, or Reno was more weakened by his wounds than he'd thought, because in a flash she had him pinned, her gun pressed to his temple.

"Calm down, Reno," Elena said softly.

"I'm your  _fucking_  superior!" he snarled, and she slapped him across the face, hard.

"You may be my superior but you're acting like a rookie right now, Reno!" she cried, and he was too startled by her nerve to reply. "You go after Rude now and you'll get both of you killed. His only chance is to fall back. We'll get him back." Her voice softened. "I know you love him. But getting yourself killed isn't going to help him."

Reno stopped struggling, his eyes going a little dull. Finally, "Get your damn gun outta my face, Laney."

"Will you—"

"Yeah fucking yeah, I'll obey orders. Get it out of my  _face_!" His teeth were bared, and Elena drew back a little, almost frightened by his expression. She got to her feet and pulled him up with one hand.

Tseng was slumped against the wall, a little blood glazing his lips. Elena went to him, looping his arm around her shoulders, and he leaned his head against hers briefly in a soft, intimate gesture. Reno watched the exchange, feeling bitter. Had Rude been there, the redhead would've gloated to him about how he was clearly right that Tseng and Elena had a thing going on. Now he was just resentful.

Slowly, painfully, the three Turks returned to Shinra headquarters, two of them leaning on each other, one of them broken.


	12. Chapter 12

Tseng sat at his desk, touching a hand to his bandaged stomach where the frag grenade had torn him open. The doctors had patched him up well, but they hadn't had enough materia to completely heal him. Not with some of the wounds the other Turks had come in sporting.

The Wutaiian man sat back with a sigh, looking out the window. He was still smarting from Reno's remarks concerning the blame in the situation, mostly because he knew he was right. Disregarding the relationship between Rude and Reno (and he knew damn well it wasn't platonic), the two of them worked best together, and he shouldn't have separated them.

Of course, he'd never counted on Rude getting captured—he honestly hadn't thought it possible. A volatile Reno, hurting from separation and worry, was the last thing they needed. He was unpredictable on his best days, which was normally a good quality to have in a Turk. Now, it was a curse.

Elena entered his office with a report in her hands, and he looked up. "Can you ask Reno to come here?" he inquired of her, taking the report. She nodded, leaving the room again, and he focused on the paperwork in his hands.

She came rushing back not a minute later, her pretty eyes wide and fearful. "He's not here."

Tseng's head shot up. "What?"

"His office is empty and he's not answering his phone," she told him. "You don't think—"

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose. He did not need this right now. "Why didn't you have someone keep an eye on him?"

"W-well, he had agreed that it was for the best to come back here. I assumed—"

"You assumed wrong!" Tseng snapped at her. "We're talking about Reno here, who's mightily pissed off and out for blood! Why would you think he would just stay put?!"

To her credit, Elena took his angry words in stride. "I'm sorry, sir," she said stiffly. "What would you have me do?"

Tseng put his head in his hands. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "It's not your fault, Elena. I'm just—" He felt her small hand run through his hair in a soothing gesture.

"Under a lot of pressure," she finished, then guided his face out of his hands so he was looking at her. "We're here to follow your orders," she said softly, pressing her lips to his in an encouraging kiss, hoping he wouldn't gripe at her about displaying affection in the workplace. "You just have to give us some."

* * *

Back at the SOLDIER-X compound, Reno was crouching on the roof of the command center. The worst of his wounds had been healed, but the burns from the mako-infused blood were still throbbing a little on his chest. Night had fallen, which he had thought would make sneaking in easier, until he'd remembered that mako would make the enemy able to see in the dark. Luckily, the remaining creatures seemed to be busy in the command center. Lucky for him, presumably unlucky for Rude, but it probably meant he was still alive.  _Would I know if he died? Would I feel it?_  Reno asked himself, and the fact that he didn't know the answer scared him.

Reno had studied the floor plans extensively before leaving headquarters, and was now crawling through the air ducts, checking them against the map in his head so he knew where to go. He was moving more slowly than he would've liked, but the alternative to that was to move noisily, and he couldn't risk that. He hadn't just stolen the floor plans from Shinra, he'd also raided the armory while everyone else was still reeling from the defeat, and the new weapons he'd outfitted himself with made his form bulkier than usual, which he was unused to.

Voices floated up through the metal of the duct, and Reno paused, realizing he'd reached the central chamber of the command center without even knowing it. There was a grate set into the metal and he carefully lay on his stomach to peer through it.

Rude had retreated into himself, a defense mechanism against the torture that he'd endured. He sat slumped in his chair, hands lashed tightly to the arms, much as he'd done to Reiss Leventhal so many weeks before. The pain he felt was muted, like a distant memory, and time had no meaning. He had no idea how much time had passed since he'd been captured, and he didn't care. The creatures' murmurs around him held no meaning, just an endless drone he couldn't even start to decipher.

He heard the splintering crash through his trance, but it didn't register until a river of flaming red slashed across his blood-soaked vision, and Reno landed in a catlike crouch and a shower of dust and debris behind the ex-SOLDIER creature that was standing in front of Rude. Rude's hazy eyes took him in silently as the redhead straightened, his eyes burning with a cold light.

"End of the line, SOLDIER-boy," he said quietly, coldly. Up came Reno's arm in a blur of motion, and he put a bullet between the eyes of the howling creature. The look on his face was frightening, his teeth bared and his face pale and drawn as he braced himself for the other creatures' attacks. They had been ringed around Rude's chair, the six of them who were left, and now the remaining five all charged Reno at once.

Rude saw him take hits in the face and ribs and strained at his bonds, but was unable to break free, and even if he had, he was in no shape to fight. Now out of his trance, the pain had come back in full force, strong enough to make him dizzy.

Reno ducked a blow, his right hand still curled around his pistol, his left clutching a buck knife he'd taken from the Shinra armory in a reverse grip. He whipped his foot across one of the ex-SOLDIER's faces, biting back a gasp of pain as he connected with its unnaturally hard skin. It was hard enough to bruise him, but not hard enough to withstand the razor sharp edge of the knife as he came around and dragged it through the creature's throat, putting extra muscle behind the cut to compensate.

Rage evidently turned Reno into an even more impressive fighter, Rude decided, not to mention the flair of spontaneity that he tended to have. It was that flair that had gotten him his promotion to second in command, his way of looking at a situation and being able to pull off what most others would dismiss as ridiculous. Rude's massive muscles and ability to pound any living human into pulp made him an asset. Reno's quickness and his ability to think outside the box made him invaluable. The big man shifted a little and a fresh wave of pain rolled over him, making him gasp a little as his vision went black.

He wasn't out long—at least he didn't think so. Rude woke to Reno working at his bonds, and the redhead was still thankfully in one piece. One glance around the room and Rude saw the deformed bodies of the last of SOLDIER-X sprawled lifelessly on the floor. Reno was unsteady, bleeding from a dozen different wounds, holes burned in his clothing from the mako-rich blood that had struck him. His usually deft fingers scrabbled at the roped around Rude's arms and finally he gave up, carefully cutting through them with the knife he still held.

Reno crouched in front of him, taking Rude's face in one hand and turning it a little to survey the damage—a clearly broken nose, a black eye, numerous cuts, but nothing too permanent-looking. The redhead pulled the bigger Turk to his feet painfully, and Rude leaned on him heavily, unable to support most of his weight. Reno clenched his teeth with the extra weight but bore it gamely, half-dragging his partner and limping himself as they made their way to the exit. It was agonizing and slow, the only sound coming from them their labored breathing and muffled grunts of pain.

"About time you came," Rude managed to say through the thick coppery taste of blood.

"Had to break, step on, and piss all over a few rules first," Reno replied wearily, and Rude didn't have enough energy to ask him to elaborate.

They reached the door to the rest of the compound and Reno kicked it open with some of the last of his strength, pulling Rude forward into the darkness of the night. The stars and moon, free from the pollution that had been present in Midgar, shone down to light their way. They made it less than ten feet before Reno's knees gave and he slumped to the ground with Rude on top of him. The redhead wriggled free, getting to his feet slowly, looking back at the hated building. He tugged an incendiary grenade from his pocket and clenched the pin between his teeth, pulling it free and hurling the grenade back through the open door of the command center. Reno crouched over Rude, shielding his body as best he could with his smaller one and pressing his hands over his partner's ears. The explosion nearly deafened him, and he felt something pop in his head, followed by warm wetness trickling out of his ear, and Reno knew he'd blown an ear drum. Unable to gather the strength to pull Rude to his feet again, he collapsed on the ground, exhausted as the heat from the burning building seared his back.

That was how Tseng and Elena found them not much later, sprawled on the ground, both unconscious.

"I'll be damned," Tseng said softly, looking at the burning building and then back to Reno's prone form. "He killed them all, and saved his partner in the process. How can I punish him for this?"

"I don't know," Elena said with a little smile, checking Rude's pulse to make sure he was still alive. "But you'd better. He'll never let you forget it otherwise." She pulled out her phone to place a call to their medics, and within ten minutes, the limp bodies of her unconscious colleagues were being loaded onto a chopper.

One look at Tseng's pinched face and Elena knew he was still feeling guilty. He didn't say anything, but she knew all the same. "Let's go back," Elena suggested softly. "There's nothing we can do for them now." She touched his arm gently, and he let her slip her smaller hand into his to lead him home.

* * *

Rude came to in another unfamiliar place, but before he could start to inwardly panic, he recognized the uniforms of Shinra medical staff and relaxed slightly. His whole body was throbbing with pain, but it was manageable, and much less than he had felt before. Rude pushed himself into a sitting position, looking around the room. A few nurses were bent over the bed next to his, and with a wave of relief he recognized Reno's bright hair.

"How are you feeling?" a nurse asked Rude, and he tore his eyes from his lover's prone form.

"How is he?" Rude asked her, nodding at Reno and ignoring the question.

"He'll recover before you do, that's for sure," the nurse said dryly. "We just had to sedate him to get him to stop fighting us. He's not fond of doctors, is he?"

"Never has been," Rude said with a touch of affection.

"Are you still in pain?" the nurse asked again.

Rude rolled his shoulders and winced. "No."

"You Turks are such liars," she said crossly, reaching over to a tray that held a hypodermic. "We've healed the most life-threatening injuries, but you'll have to take it easy for a couple weeks. No jobs until then, all right? I'll have the doctor contact your superior." She poked the needle into his arm and pressed down the plunger, and soon after Rude felt the pain lift and his vision grew hazy.

When he woke the second time, Tseng was standing by his bed, and one glance over showed Rude that Reno's bed was empty. The pain was even less this time, and he was able to sit up easily.

"You're awake," Tseng said, looking up from the papers he was holding.

"Where's Reno?"

"I sent him home. He's mostly recovered."

Rude tried to shake the feeling of fogginess that the painkillers had caused to settle in his head. Part of him was almost offended that Reno hadn't stayed to make sure he was recovering all right.

"You should be released soon as well," Tseng continued. "The doctor says to take it easy at home for a couple weeks. Most of your bones have set and knitted but any heavy work and they'll be damaged. We can spare you and Reno both around the office for now, especially since the threat is gone."

"Gone?"

Tseng's eyebrow shot up. "Reno blew up their command center when he went to save you. You don't remember?"

Rude frowned a little. "It's hazy."

"Well, it's thanks to Reno being an impulsive ass that two of my best Turks are still alive," Tseng said quietly. "And I still have to punish him for it, because he went against direct orders."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Rude pointed out. He knew Tseng wouldn't thank him for knocking him out of the way and getting tortured in his place, even if he wanted to. But he felt the gratitude in his words, laced in with the regret that he had to somehow reprimand Reno. Tseng was stoic enough that many forgot he had been through his fair share of torture and pain, first on the end of Sephiroth's sword, and again at the mercy of Kadaj and his gang.

"No, it wouldn't be the first time. But I still can't let it slide." Tseng made to leave, but turned back, his hand on the doorknob. "He was as close to openly mutinous as I've ever seen him when I told him we were falling back. I don't know what's going on with him now, but don't doubt his feelings for you."

Rude only leaned back in bed stiffly, his face expressionless as Tseng left the room quietly.


	13. Chapter 13

The next few days passed in a blur of morphine and lessening pain until the doctor finally released him. His uniform had been battered enough that the Shinra medical staff had incinerated it, so Rude pulled on the new one that had been laid out for him, its cloth still crisp with starch. His battered cell phone had been lying next to it, and now the big man flipped it open, punching in Reno's number. He'd heard no word from his red-haired lover in all the days he'd been lying in bed. At first he'd been annoyed, but now he was just worried.

The phone rang and rang, finally rolling over to voicemail until Rude cut the call and headed back to his apartment, still a little stiff and sore, the morning sun hurting his eyes. The staff hadn't seen it as important to replace his shattered sunglasses, and the brightness made his head pound.

Rude paused outside Reno's door. His apartment was dark, but that meant nothing, so he tried the knob, opening the door quietly and stepping inside.

"Reno?"

There was movement in the dark across the room and Rude could just make out Reno's form in the shadows, leaning against the doorway to his bedroom. His shirt was unbuttoned and hanging open, a bottle dangling from one hand. Rude couldn't make out his expression; his face was still in shadows.

"You're okay," came Reno's voice, slightly raspy, as though his throat hurt.

"You would've known that if you'd visited me," Rude said mildly, hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, well." Reno raised the bottle to his mouth and took a swallow.

Rude moved forward into the dim living room. "You gonna tell me why you disappeared?"

Reno took a couple staggering steps forward and stumbled. Rude caught him in his arms, wrinkling his nose a little at his partner's rather ripe smell of sweat, alcohol, and something that almost smelled like blood. Rude hauled him to the couch and hit the light switch, blinking at the brightness as Reno moaned, shielding his eyes with one hand.

"Turn off the fuckin' sun," the redhead murmured, and Rude finally caught sight of what the darkness had shielded from him.

Reno looked battered, for lack of a better word. There was a nasty cut on his forehead that had splashed now-dried blood over half his face, his nose had been bloodied, and his lip was split.

"I thought they patched you up," Rude said, feeling gently over Reno's face to make sure nothing was broken.

"It's jus' from a bar fight," the redhead slurred. "Where's m'booze?"

"Soaking into the carpet, where it belongs," Rude told him. He brushed some blood-caked hair out of Reno's face and leaned down to rest his lips on his forehead, watching the fevered blue-green eyes slip closed. The redhead nuzzled into Rude's neck, and the bigger man felt his teeth nibble gently. "Reno," he admonished. "We need to talk."

Reno slipped a leg over Rude, moving to straddle his lap. "I don't want to talk," he growled, pressing his lips to Rude's roughly.

Rude let out a breath. He'd missed feeling Reno's body against his so badly that the strength left his limbs for a minute, and his partner took advantage of the opening to press closer and kiss harder, his hands running over Rude's shoulders and chest, pulling his shirt open to get at the warm brown skin underneath. The kiss had become all tongues, hot and wet and tasting thickly of alcohol.

"Rude…" Reno moaned, arching into him, rubbing his groin sensually against Rude's. "Fuck me," he panted. "I know y'want to."

The slur that was still in his voice made Rude pull back. "I'm not fucking you when you're drunk," he said harshly.

Reno stilled, looking down in what seemed to be shame, and fell silent. Rude's anger softened, and he got to his feet, pulling Reno with him. He'd lost weight; the redhead's lithe body was light enough that it didn't cause him much pain to half-carry him to the bathroom. Rude didn't think he could stand and hold Reno long enough to save him from drowning in the shower, so he started running a bath. He stripped Reno quickly and efficiently, then himself, but there no feeling of arousal as he looked over his lover's bruised and bloody body, only worry. Reno was still quiet, refusing to look at him as Rude helped him into the bathtub, settling in behind him as Reno pulled his knees to his chest, huddling into a ball. Rude soaked a washcloth in the steaming water and took the redhead's face in his hand, sponging away the dried blood caking it. Reno flinched as Rude carefully pressed the cloth to the cut on his forehead, which had started to ooze a little.

The silence was deafening as Rude started to wash the rest of Reno's body, his partner as limp and unresponsive as a puppet. He untied his long hair, letting the scarlet strands spill into the water and working shampoo through them. At last Reno let out a sound, a little hum of pleasure as Rude massaged his scalp gently.

"You feel like talking yet?" Rude asked mildly, continuing to wash Reno's hair as the redhead let out a few more sighs of contentment. The water was turning an unpleasant color, one of rust-red blood and dirt. "Because normally I have trouble getting you to stay quiet." He heard Reno's breath hitch a little, and with a little jolt, Rude realized that the noises he was making no longer sounded happy. One glance around Reno's shoulder showed him that he redhead had his mouth pressed to his arm to muffle himself, and his beautiful eyes had filled with tears that spilled over, streaking his face. His shoulders were shaking, wracked with sobs that he was desperately trying not to let out.

Reno didn't cry. Not like this, with sobs tearing from his throat roughly, hard and painful-sounding. If he let a few tears go, it was brief and unexplained, like it had been the night Rude had told him about Tessa.

Something almost like panic came over Rude, but Rude didn't panic, so that couldn't be right. Nevertheless, his heart was pounding, his hands were shaking, and his mouth was dry as he pulled Reno to his chest, cradling him as though he were a child. He wove his fingers through Reno's wet hair as his partner shuddered against him, his arms creeping up to curl around Rude's back, digging in hard enough to make him grimace.

"Reno," he murmured, closing his eyes and pressing his lips to his partner's head, stroking back the flaming red hair gently. "Talk to me."

For several long moments there was only the harsh sound of sobbing as Reno cried into his chest. Rude's hand was warm and steady on his bare back, and under its heavy weight the redhead quieted a little until there was only the occasional sniffle.

"You were right," Reno finally croaked, pressing hands to his sore eyes. "Office relationships make you sloppy." He drew in a shuddering breath. "You never really said it, but I know it was one of the reasons you kept shoving me away."

"You were right, too," Rude told him, still holding the redhead's head to his chest and carefully stroking his hair. "Denying yourself only makes it worse."

"I don't know," Reno said. "I don't know if that's right. Would I have gone against direct orders to help you if we weren't…whatever we are?"

"You would've done all that and more," Rude murmured against his forehead. "Just for the chance to try to get me to sleep with you again."

Reno gave a watery chuckle. "Maybe," he rasped out. "I just—I can't remember being that scared before. Ever. When Tseng told me you'd been captured and I had no idea if you were dead or being tortured or what—" He broke off, hands over his face. "I was ready to throw down with Tseng, even though he was coughin' up blood."

Rude sighed. "Everything turned out okay," he pointed out.

"You call being tortured okay?" Reno snapped. "Lookit your nose, partner. It's kinda crooked now, because you got it smashed by some over-juiced wannabe assassins!"

"Was bound to happen sooner or later," Rude said mildly. He shoved his right hand under Reno's nose, showing him the knuckle that was slightly larger than the others and a little out of place. "I broke this beating in someone's face six years ago. It goes both ways, Reno. You know the risks of our job."

"That's not the fucking point," Reno muttered. "I should have  _been_  there!" His voice broke again. "I'm your  _partner_. I always have your back, and the one time I didn't you almost died."

"Why are you blaming yourself?" Rude asked quietly. "We were ordered apart. It wasn't like you chose to let me get captured. You can blame yourself until the end of time, for everything you've ever done, but that's no way to live." He carefully pulled Reno to his feet and stepped out of the bathtub, yanking a towel free from the rack and toweling off his partner, then himself. Reno swayed, the sudden rush of blood to his head dizzying. "You're still drunk," Rude observed critically.

"Drank more these past few days than I think I have in my entire life," Reno muttered, and then he was falling to his knees in front of the toilet and vomiting up the little that was in his stomach. In a flash, Rude was crouching by him, holding his head steady and pulling back the long wet strands of hair. The redhead's hand found Rude's bare thigh, fingers digging into the thick muscle there as he heaved, gasping for air. He rested his forehead on the rim of the toilet, and Rude fetched him a glass of water, which he took in a trembling hand, rinsing out his mouth shakily. "I'm sorry," Reno said quietly, so quietly it was almost inaudible. "I'm sorry I let you get hurt." He leaned back against Rude's chest, turning a little to tuck his head under his chin. "I'm sorry I'm so fucked up."

Rude just held him, offering his presence as he always did, and when Reno stopped shaking so much, he pulled him to his feet and led them to the bedroom. "When was the last time you slept? Or ate?"

"Don' remember," Reno mumbled, and Rude started to pull away.

"Let me get you something." He had no idea what; there probably wasn't enough food for a mouse in Reno's apartment.

The redhead's arms tightened around him. "Later," he said quietly, curling against Rude's chest.

Rude smoothed a hand over his hair again, leaning back onto the bed and holding Reno closely but gently, still mindful of his bruises and the injuries on his face. He traced the cut on his forehead with a careful finger. "Bar fighting?" he asked, almost incredulously.

Reno gave a hoarse little laugh. "I was plastered, man. It's been a shitty few days."

"How many?"

"Days? I dunno."

"No, people you fought."

"Oh. Um…maybe eight? It's kinda hazy."

"Not at Lockheart's place?"

"Nah, she woulda just called Tseng after she threw me out. Some dive down in South Edge." He stretched a little and groaned. "I feel like shit."

"Can't imagine why."

"Fuck you, partner," Reno shot back lazily. "I ain't known for my good decisions."

"Wouldn't be you without the bad ones." Rude tipped up Reno's face and caught his lips in a gentle kiss. Reno let out a little mewling noise and pressed closer, his leg slipping over Rude's to rub against him. Rude pulled back a little with a grimace. "You taste like booze and puke."

Reno snorted out a laugh, laying his head on Rude's chest. "Too tired to do anything anyways." Within a minute his breath had evened out.

* * *

 

It took a couple days for Reno's body to detox from the copious amounts of alcohol he'd put into his body, which meant a couple days of moaning, complaining, vomiting, and all-around babying.

"You know, I'm the one who was supposed to be resting up," Rude told him once as he was holding Reno's hair out of the way as he vomited yet again.

"Fuck off," was all Reno moaned, holding his stomach. He'd had the shakes all morning, so badly he couldn't even hold a spoon, and Rude had fed him soup like a baby, though the redhead had protested and complained the entire time. Now the food was coming up again, and Rude was slightly irritated he'd even bothered.

Back in bed, Rude pulled Reno's shaking body against him, tucking his fevered face against his neck. "Feel better?"

"Mostly," Reno answered, still shivering, though his skin against Rude's felt like it was burning through the undershirts they were both wearing.

"Tseng know you're taking time off?"

With a snort, Reno replied, "He called while you were still in the hospital. Told me to stay the fuck away until he figures out what to do with me."

"Can't be anything really bad. You're too good at your job."

Reno rolled onto his back, suddenly unbearably hot. "You didn't see his face, man. We really went at it when he told me we weren't going back for you right away." He flinched away from Rude's hand as it reached over to stroke his back. "Too hot, man."

"You need anything for the fever?"

Reno shook his head, wiping away sweat from his face. "Already been runnin' ya ragged, partner. I'll be fine."

It was as close to a thank you that Rude would ever get, and he knew it. "Don't worry about it," he grunted, wincing a little as he shifted on the bed. His body had mostly stopped aching, but every so often he flashed back to being tied to that chair, settling into a trance as the ex-SOLDIERs, with surgical precision, broke his bones and carved up his flesh. Every time it happened he felt pain bloom in one of his rapidly healing injuries, and he couldn't tell if it was real or just phantom pain.

Reno groaned next to him on the bed, holding his middle. "Fuck, man, talk to me about something. Get my mind off it."

Rude thought this request somewhat ridiculous, considering how laconic he normally was, but they both could use some type of distraction from their battered bodies. "Don't know what to talk about," he hedged.

"What'dja do before being a Turk?" Reno asked him, looking over into his eyes.

"Construction."

Reno pushed himself up on his elbows a little. "Seriously?" He tried to picture Rude in a construction worker's uniform, but came up short. "No wonder ya had to borrow money. Notoriously shitty job, partner."

"Quickest I could get with the amount of schooling I had," Rude answered. "What about you?"

Reno leaned back on the bed. "I'm younger than you, y'know? I was seventeen when Veld hauled me outta juvenile jail to join the Turks."

"What'd you do?"

"Beat my old man to death, partner. He used to slap me an' my mom around, and one day he slapped her too hard. Strangled me half to death before I smashed his head in."

"So that's why?" Rude left the rest of the question hanging, but Reno knew what he meant. That's why you can't stand not breathing?

"Yeah, that's why."

"Sorry."

"He was a bastard anyway," Reno said dismissively. "Anyway, before that I used to do odd jobs to get outta the house. Ended up getting hooked on Wave like half the poor assholes under the plate eventually."

Rude winced. Reno had named a dangerous upper that was popular in the slums because of its cheap price, but had the unfortunate side effect of killing about thirty percent of the people who were addicted to it. "Familiar with this then?" he asked, nodding at Reno's body, which was shivering again. The redhead choked out a laugh, curling closer for warmth.

"Detoxed in juvie, and off Wave it's ten times worse, partner. This ain't nothing." He laughed again. "I'm just outta practice."

"Veld picked me up in jail too," Rude mused.

"He had a sixth sense for that sorta thing," Reno agreed. "Don't know how he picked people like us outta all those criminals." He dug in the nightstand and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"That really the best thing right now?" Rude asked, nodding at them.

"Helps with the shakes," Reno answered absently. "You want one?"

"Yeah, sure."

Reno stuck two cigarettes in his mouth and lit them, inhaling deeply before handing one over and setting the ashtray down on Rude's chest. "It'll fall off if it's on mine," he said by way of explanation, pointing to his quivering body.

"Think this is worse than guard duty," Rude muttered. "Wouldn't mind time off if we could actually go somewhere."

"Wouldn't mind the beach," Reno agreed. "Then I get an excuse to eye-fuck you half naked in public," he added with a grin.

"Might want to focus more on not burning," Rude shot back with a little smile. The last time they'd been to Costa del Sol, Reno had forgotten to reapply his sunscreen and had ended up as red as his hair.

"Fuck you and your dark skin," Reno muttered.

"Tseng might let us all have a vacation now that SOLDIER-X is gone." Rude dared to hope. He wouldn't say it, but he wouldn't mind seeing Reno in nothing but swim trunks all day either.

"Still can't believe he's gonna punish me for that," Reno said bitterly. "I did Rufus a damn favor, honestly. Now he ain't gonna be torn apart by human porcupines."

"He has to," Rude reminded him. "No one will respect him if he doesn't come down hard. He won't fire you or have you killed though. We talked before I got released."

"Oh, good," Reno muttered sarcastically. "He just doesn't want to deal with you pissed off about me dying; he already had to deal with me." Rude was quiet, and Reno looked up at him. "You would be pissed off, right?" he asked with a grin.

"To put it mildly."

"You say such sweet things," Reno teased, taking a drag from his cigarette. "Best boyfriend I could ask for." They looked at each other for a moment, and then Reno said, "I'm never calling us boyfriends again."

"Yuck," Rude agreed.

"What are we, then?" Reno pressed, sobering.

"I dunno," Rude replied, stubbing out his cigarette. "We're just…us. What we've always been."

"We just have sex now," Reno added, grinning. He dropped his cigarette butt in the ashtray and leaned up to kiss Rude.

The sweet way Reno's lips pressed against his made Rude sigh a little.  _There's definitely more than sex here,_  he thought, but instead of trying to put what he was feeling into words he teased Reno's mouth open and slid his tongue in. Reno tasted like smoke now, which was a large improvement over vomit, and his tongue was as dexterous as ever, curling around Rude's with sensual strokes.

"You stopped shaking," Rude observed quietly when they pulled apart to breathe.

"Feeling better," Reno breathed, nuzzling his neck and tugging at the rings in his ear with his teeth. "Are you healed up enough to get down and dirty, partner?"

Rude thought about it, and as much as he wanted to pound Reno into the mattress, he didn't think his body could handle it right then. "Probably shouldn't push it," he said regretfully, and Reno made an unhappy noise.

"How 'bout I just jerk us off, then?" he suggested after a moment, running a hand up under the wifebeater Rude was wearing.

His cock jumped a little at Reno's words. "Gods, yes," Rude groaned, pressing their groins together, and in half a second Reno's hands were fumbling at his pants, pulling the zipper down and then opening his own. He eased Rude's half-hard erection out of his boxers and felt Rude do the same to him as he leaned in again to capture Reno's lips in a wet, messy kiss. Reno sighed a little as Rude moved to trail kisses from his lips to his jaw, his facial hair scratching pleasantly. Slowly they stroked each other to hardness, and then Reno squirmed closer, pressing their erections together and wrapping a hand around them.

Reno gave a little cry as he started to stroke them, the feeling of his cock rubbing against Rude's dizzying, particularly in conjunction with the way Rude was curling his tongue around his earlobe, tugging the ring in it much the way Reno often did to him. "Unh! Rude," he panted as one of Rude's hands crawled up his shirt, nails dragging against his skin gently before pinching his nipple to make it harden to a stiff peak. He brought up his other hand to wrap around their erections as well, settling over Reno's. His bigger hand smoothed out the rhythm, squeezing them together gently while Reno moaned into his neck. He swiped his thumb over the heads of their cocks, smearing the fluid there together and down for extra lubrication.

Reno arched against him and Rude's eyes slipped shut, his lips slightly parted. The redhead kissed the middle of his chest, his hand under Rude's speeding up, the muscles in his arm flexing and burning. "Oh, gods, baby, I wish you were inside me right now," Reno panted, sinking his teeth into Rude right where his neck met his shoulder.

It was either the pain from Reno's bite or his words that did it for Rude, or maybe even both. He let out a sharp moan and stiffened, spilling over their clasped hands. It took Reno a couple more quick jerks, but soon he was gasping out his orgasm as well, shuddering against Rude's chest and splattering his shirt with cum.

"Oops," Reno said lazily when he regained his breath, nodding to Rude's damp shirt. "Better take that off." Before Rude could say anything the redhead was pulling his shirt over his head, using it to wipe off their sticky hands.

"You just want to see me shirtless," the bigger man accused.

Reno grinned his foxlike grin. "That too. Do I need an excuse though?"

"I guess not," Rude grumbled, slumping back on the bed. "Hey, quit it." Reno had started playing with his nipple rings.

"But they're sexy. I just wanna touch 'em," Reno whined.

"You'll just turn me on again," Rude muttered, smacking Reno's hands away.

"And that's bad because?"

"Because my fingers are only newly unbroken and probably can't take much more."

"You'd think they'd do ya a solid and fix your bum knuckle while they had their Cure materia out," Reno snorted, running a finger over Rude's right hand. Rude held it up to study the knuckle he'd broken so many years before.

"It's not a bum knuckle," he said defensively. "It works fine. Just looks funny." Reno's hand came up to lace their fingers together and the redhead pressed a kiss to the off-center knuckle. Rude raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically romantic gesture, and Reno balked a little.

"Shut up," he muttered, trying to work his hand free, a red flush rising in his cheeks. Rude just chuckled and held on tightly, not letting him pull away.


	14. Chapter 14

Two weeks of rest and boredom and Rude was back on his feet, bones smoothly mended and bruises completely faded.

Straightening his tie in the mirror, Rude slid on his shades and turned to Reno, who was shifting from foot to foot, obviously nervous at the thought of returning to the office and Tseng's wrath. "Calm down, Red," he told him. "It's not gonna be that bad."

"Easy for you to say," Reno snapped. "You only got yourself captured. I probably fucked up my entire life."

"Your entire life?" Rude repeated, shoving his hands in his pockets.

One side of Reno's lips curved up in a smirk. "Well, some of it," he purred, leaning up to kiss Rude thoroughly.

"We should go," Rude said against his lips, and Reno's sour mood returned.

"Yeah, yeah."

They walked to work that morning, finally able to roam the streets without having to worry about being sniped by ex-SOLDIERs and not having to double back to avoid being followed. Being Turks, they were still alert, but the anxious feeling of being on edge was gone. Reno was mostly silent, his face still a little drawn as they approached headquarters. He'd debated wearing a tie to placate Tseng a little, but the moment he tightened it around his neck he'd felt nauseous and hadn't been able to go through with it.

Rude rapped on Tseng's open door when they reached his office, and the director looked up from his desk with a small smile.

"Welcome back. I trust you're healed completely?"

"Good as new," Rude confirmed.

"Then go on to your office. There's plenty of work waiting. I need a word with Reno."

Rude gave his partner an encouraging pat on the shoulder and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Reno sighed and turned to Tseng, who was resting his face on steepled fingers. "Lay it on me, boss man," he said in a defeated voice.

Tseng's mouth twitched a little as though he was amused. "You went against my direct orders, infiltrated an enemy base, and nearly got yourself and your partner killed."

"I know that," Reno said grudgingly. "But it all turned out fine, yeah?"

"That's not the point. Part of being a Turk is trusting your coworkers implicitly. You disobeyed me, and I have to do something about that."

Reno waited for the hammer to fall.

"You'll work a month without pay, and you're prohibited from out-of-city missions until I can be sure you won't fly off the handle," Tseng said finally.

Reno drew his eyebrows together quizzically. "Is…is that all?"

Tseng's eyes flashed. "Do you want more?"

"No! I'm just…surprised."

Tseng walked over to him. "Listen to me, because I will only say this once. You did us all a great service, and I am impressed you lived through it." The director's voice was gentle and quiet. "Punishing you is a formality. Even leaders make mistakes."

Reno nibbled on his thumbnail. "You would've done the same thing as me if it had been Elena," he said in a low voice.

Tseng turned to stare out the window at Edge. "Without a doubt," he said simply.

Not waiting for a dismissal, Reno backed out of the office and went to his own. Rude looked up when he entered.

"So?" the bald man inquired, raising a brow.

"I'm basically a slave for a month," Reno said bitterly. "What with the pay cuts I've taken this year and this, I'll be broke before long."

"Just stop drinking so much," Rude suggested.

Reno grinned, slinging his body down onto his chair and propping up his feet on his desk. "After that last booze cruise, I probably won't be drinking for a while."

"And by 'a while' you mean, what…another week or two?"

"Approximately," Reno said, grinning wider. "Should save me a little money. I just hope I don't get behind on the rent."

"Do you understand the concept of saving?" Rude asked critically, frowning a little. Reno flipped his hand as though that were unimportant. "Incredible," Rude muttered, going back to his work. Sometimes it amazed him that they were best friends, and even more, that he had fallen in love with such a disaster.

The legs of Reno's chair thumped back onto the ground. "Hey! I almost forgot. Remember a while ago I said I thought Tseng and Elena were a thing?"

"And I said it was impossible, since Tseng is too duty-driven? I remember."

Reno clicked his fingers together, grinning wickedly. "Then you owe me, partner, 'cause I have it straight from the chocobo's mouth."

Rude's head snapped around, and he actually looked surprised. "You serious?"

"Tseng as good as admitted it back in his office. Plus you shoulda seen them together earlier. You could just tell. Cough up, partner." Reno's voice was smug.

"Cough up what? We never bet on it," Rude objected.

"Well, we should've. Now that I'm not getting paid for a month," Reno said grumpily. "And I can't leave Edge."

"Hope it was worth it," Rude said in an amused voice.

"Of course it was," Reno snapped. "Doesn't mean I have to be happy about my punishment." Grumpily, he started reading through the first report in his inbox.

* * *

He'd figured that the lack of a month's pay would bother him more than being unable to leave Edge, but it turned out to be the opposite for Reno. Even though he had spent most of his time in the city anyways, just knowing he was confined to it made him itch to leave.

"I hate it here," he growled around a cigarette as he and Rude were walking home from work. It was a week into his sentencing, as Reno called it, and he was already getting antsy. Tseng had been working him brutally hard, hard enough that at the end of the day he ended up just falling into bed. The worst part about it, Reno thought mutinously, was the fact that he'd barely gotten any action from Rude due to how exhausted he'd been. He slid his eyes over to his partner as they walked and smirked a little. He could tell Rude was feeling it too, even if he didn't say it, from the little glances he caught the bigger Turk giving him and the tension in his shoulders.

"Never hated it before," Rude told him as they approached his apartment.

Reno sighed. "I just wish Tseng had gone for something quick and hard." He grinned. "Like floggin' me. Then I'd be done and back to work, no problem. This is dragging on way too long, man." He followed Rude into his apartment.

"Flogging?" Rude repeated, a little smile quirking his lips. "You trying to turn me on?" He loosened his tie like he always did when he got home, but the motion was oddly sexual to Reno, and the redhead felt his body warming up.

"Always knew you'd go for a little slap and tickle, partner," Reno said, his lip curling in a grin. In the morning he had steadfastly decided that he was definitely getting laid that night and had proceeded to use all of his skill to hide from Tseng throughout the day. His efforts were paying off now as arousal started to burn in his lower belly, and Reno stripped out of his blazer, slinking up to Rude and pressing him back against the closed door of the apartment.

"It can be fun," Rude replied, still with that shadow of a smile. His voice had grown husky and low, and his fingers crept under the bottom of Reno's shirt to brush against his sharp hipbones.

"Oh, yeah," Reno purred, leaning up to suck on Rude's collarbone. It took some effort to get marks to show up on Rude's dark skin, but it never stopped him from trying. "Wanna go to the bedroom?"

Instead of replying, Rude pressed him close, letting him feel the straining hardness through his pants, then released him to move to his bedroom, shrugging out of his jacket. He was working on the first button of his shirt when Reno struck from behind, and before he knew it, Rude found himself lying flat on his back on the bed, his sexy lover stretched over him. Reno kissed him, his mouth hot and wet and his tongue eagerly thrusting into his mouth, hands fumbling at Rude's shirt buttons until he had the garment open. Reno stroked his hands over Rude's heavily muscled chest as he felt his own shirt being tugged at and reluctantly pulled free from his partner's warm skin to shimmy out of his clothes.

"Oh, gods," Reno breathed out as Rude kicked off his own pants and pressed their erections together. "It's been way too long, baby." He started kissing Rude again, long and slow this time, as the bigger man slowly ran his hands down his back, feeling every rib and flexing muscle as Reno arched against him.

Rude found it almost ridiculous how he could go without sex for a decade and then as soon as he got a taste of it with Reno he was like a teenager again, getting hard in his pants just at the sight of the V of chest that peeked through Reno's shirt, the graceful curve of his neck, and his ass in his pants. Even if his bare ass was even better, Rude decided, reaching it with his hands and squeezing the firm muscles there.

Reno let out a little moan and shakily reached over to the nightstand where he knew Rude kept the lube, groping around until he found the small tube. He handed it to Rude and returned his attention to the strong, sculpted body underneath him, licking a stripe up his neck and tugging gently at his nipple rings the way he knew Rude liked. Distantly he heard the snap of the bottle and Reno jumped a little as a slick finger traced between his cheeks. "Fuck, that's cold," he muttered against Rude's neck, then arched into him with a gasp as the finger gently breached him, sliding past the ring of muscle to settle deep inside.

"Okay?" Rude asked, sounding a little breathless.

"Yeah," Reno answered, feeling his lover's heavy erection pressing into his hip. He reached down to stroke it smoothly, pulling a groan from Rude. The finger inside him retreated and Reno gave an indignant whimper, only to moan as it returned, pumping in and out of him in a gentle rhythm. He slid his hand over Rude's cock in time with the finger inside him, rubbing his thumb over the head and teasing one of his nipples to hardness with his other hand.

"Reno," Rude gasped through gritted teeth, a warning in his voice. Reno caught it immediately and reached down quickly to squeeze the base of the bigger man's cock firmly as it twitched, cutting off his orgasm, and Rude let out a frustrated-sounding groan.

Reno felt another finger nudge at his entrance and forced himself to relax as it slid inside, feeling himself being stretched open. Even just two of Rude's fingers caused a bit of a burn; no part of the man was small, Reno thought to himself, smirking as he rubbed a thumb along Rude's cock, careful not to overstimulate him again. Even so, the faint pain was almost welcome, and Reno's eyes slipped shut as the fingers in him scissored gently. They kept just barely brushing over his prostate, sending little jolts of pleasure up and down his spine but leaving him prickling with the need for more stimulation.

"Hurry it up, partner," Reno growled as his hips thrust against Rude's leg involuntarily. He nuzzled against the dark man's neck and kissed his cheek, still keeping a light hold on Rude's erection. Rude turned his head and caught Reno's lips with his own, parting them with his tongue as a third finger worked its way inside him. Reno hissed a little, half in pain and half in pleasure, and Rude silenced him with a firmer kiss, pressing gently on Reno's prostate with his fingers to distract him from the pain. The redhead let out a little mewling cry, his thighs quivering a little from the effort of holding himself over Rude, his hand tightening around the bigger man's cock as arousal clenched hard in his stomach even more, like a spring coiling tighter and tighter.

"Enough," Reno gasped against Rude's lips, fumbling in the nightstand for a condom and ripping it open with his teeth like a frenzied animal as Rude slowly eased his fingers out of him. He rolled it carefully down Rude's erection, the dark man arching a little at the feel of Reno's hand sliding over him. A quick slick of lube over the condom and Reno was rising on his knees over Rude's prostrate body until the tip of his cock was nudging against his stretched entrance.

Rude choked back a groan as Reno refused to sink down; the redhead just looked at him with a predatory gaze, then leaned over him, looking into his eyes.

"Do you trust me?" Reno asked, his voice low and husky.

"Yes," Rude replied almost immediately, somewhat surprised with his lack of hesitation. He'd never thought about how much he trusted his partner before.

He almost reevaluated when Reno swiftly caught his wrists in his hands and stretched them up above his head. There was a snapping sound, and Rude felt the cold metal of handcuffs locking his arms together. He looked up, surprised. He hadn't even seen where Reno had pulled them from.

"Okay?" Reno asked him softly, carefully, and Rude nodded. Then his eyes were rolling back in his head and a groan was bursting from his lips as Reno dropped his hips, taking him inside in one smooth motion.

Reno grimaced a little at the stretch, pausing when he was completely seated to let himself adjust. "Oh, fuck," he said breathlessly, reveling in the feel of Rude's thick hardness inside him. He looked down at his lover and saw that Rude's arms were rigid, straining at the handcuffs, and sweat had started to stand out on his face, his whole body wound tight with arousal. "You want me to move?" Reno purred, bearing his weight down on Rude's hips to prevent them from bucking.

"Reno," Rude warned through gritted teeth. "Yes, I want you to fucking move."

Reno leaned over him, kissing him thoroughly, then licked his way to Rude's ear. "I'm gonna make you fuckin' beg," he growled, raising himself up until just the tip of Rude's erection remained inside him. He traced his hands over Rude's muscled chest, feeling the tension that gathered in it as Rude strained, both at his bonds and his desire to be back inside Reno.

Rude let out an animalistic growl as Reno sank down about an inch, then pulled back up again, nibbling none too gently at his neck. The scrape of his teeth lit a fire in Rude, heat blooming in his belly and racing through his arms and legs. He felt his cock twitch a little, aching without Reno's tight passage around it. Experimentally, Rude thrust his hips up a little, moaning when he felt the head of his cock nudge into Reno's ass. The redhead bit him hard on the neck, raking his fingernails down Rude's chest.

"Bad," Reno purred, reaching down to massage his lover's balls. "I won't let you come if you do that." To prove his point, he squeezed the base of Rude's cock hard, making the bigger man gasp.

Rude silently cursed Reno's love of control and wondered briefly if he would ever let their positions be reversed. He felt his stomach roll with desire as Reno teased him, never letting him in more than an inch or so, all the while playing with his balls, and Rude bit his lip until it bled.

"Reno," he gasped again as the redhead cut another orgasm short, his hand tight around the base of Rude's cock.

"I told you what you need to do." Reno's voice was dark with lust. He rolled his hips down shallowly again.

"Please," Rude gritted finally, thinking that his pride wasn't worth this torture.

"Please what?" Reno asked innocently, smirking when Rude glared at him.

"Please…fuck me, Reno," he managed, then let out a cry of pleasure as Reno finally sank down again, throwing back his head at the feeling of Rude's thick cock sliding into him. Rude thrust his hips up as best he could from his prone position, and it was Reno's turn to whimper as his prostate was struck.

In a moment Reno had regained his control, planting his hands on Rude's chest and setting a hard pace, his hips rising and falling so fast that Rude felt like he couldn't catch his breath, and Reno's moans were rising in volume, a steady stream of pleasured noises.

"Oh, Shiva," the redhead choked out, never slowing his frenzied pace. Every time he came down Rude thrust his hips up, shoving his cock hard against his prostate and making Reno quiver and moan, barbs of pleasure shooting through his spine. Reno whimpered out another groan and took one hand from Rude's chest, fisting his own rock hard erection and jerking it with quick, rough strokes. "You feel so  _fucking_  good, Rude," he gasped out. "Gaia, you feel better inside me than I'd ever thought possible, oh, fuck, baby!"

The lust was rising in him, coiling tight in his lower belly, and Rude pulled hard at the handcuffs again, hating and loving how restricted his movement was. He looked up at Reno, at his beautiful white body moving smoothly above him. A rosy flush had stained Reno's cheeks and was slowly moving down to color his chest as well, and Rude knew he was close to the edge. Sure enough, Reno gave another pathetic little whimper and jerked his cock hard one last time, spraying Rude's dark chest with his release. The warm feeling of it hitting his chest and the rhythmic tightening of Reno's ass around his cock made Rude's eyes roll back, but he just barely managed not to come. Instead, he patiently let Reno collapse on him, panting, kissing him sloppily.

"Let me out of the cuffs," Rude said after a few minutes, managing to keep his voice gentle, and a tired Reno obeyed, pulling the key out of what seemed to be nowhere and fumbling with the cuffs. They unsnapped from his wrists, and Rude shook his hands a little to get the blood flowing again, rubbing at the red weals that had risen on his wrists from how hard he'd pulled. Reno smiled at him a little sleepily, clearly sated, and Rude watched in a sort of evil happiness as the redhead's expression shifted from relaxed to confused as he felt the hardness that was still evident inside him.

"Wait, are you still—" Before he knew what had happened, Reno found himself pressed face-first to the bedcovers, cutting his words off with a yelp. He felt Rude's strong hands on his hips, pulling them up sharply so his ass was in the air. "Rude, what the fu—" Again, Reno's words were cut off, but this time with a long, drawn out moan of pleasure as Rude thrust firmly into him again.

Rude grabbed his arms, pulling them behind his back for greater leverage, leaving Reno's chest and face against the bed. "Tell me to stop and I will," he reassured his partner, but Reno looked very much like he was enjoying it. His eyes were half-closed, his lips parted as he gasped for air with every powerful thrust. He squirmed a little in Rude's hold and the bigger man didn't have to look or feel to know the redhead was rock hard again.

"D-don't—ah!—stop," Reno panted, his entire body on fire. He hadn't realized how much being dominated would turn him on; he'd always been in the dom role before, but the amount of trust and love he had for Rude made being dominated by him more pleasurable than he'd thought possible. Reno had already come once and he was already writhing in his partner's grip.

"Harder?" Rude grunted out.

Reno let out an even louder moan at the thought. He hadn't realized Rude  _could_  go harder; the breath was already being driven from his lungs with every thrust, sweat slicking his body as pleasure sizzled through him.

"Oh, fuck, Gaia, yes," Reno managed between breaths. "Go harder. I c'n take it."

Rude let out a groan of his own, letting his head fall back. He'd always been strong and heavily muscled, and out of risk of doing serious damage to his partners, holding back a little during sex had quickly become second nature. His wife in particular had preferred it slow and gentle, which he hadn't minded, but being given permission to go all out was more arousing than he'd thought possible. Reno might have been lean, but he was wiry and tough, and Rude knew firsthand that he was much stronger than he looked.

Rude widened his knees a little on the bed to brace himself and tightened his grip on Reno's arms, pulling the redhead back firmly against him, finally letting go and thrusting hard and fast, his body remembering what to do like an old, almost forgotten dance.

Reno's moans were growing louder and louder, his face flushing a brilliant red to match his hair as Rude pounded into him, his hips pumping smoothly even with his rapid pace.

Through the almost agonizing amount of pleasure, Reno dimly could hear that Rude's groans and grunts of exertion and desire were also rising in volume, and that alone was a bit shocking to him. Rude was normally reserved even in the bedroom, and the noises he made had always been sexy, but they hadn't been particularly loud. Now, they weren't anywhere near as loud as Reno's own, but they were louder than they'd ever been before. The heavy gasping and muffled cursing from Rude was lighting a fire in Reno's chest, and he shivered as another shock of pleasure coursed through him.

"Gods, you're so tight," Rude heard himself groan, feeling almost dizzy from the silky embrace of Reno's lithe body. They were both glistening with sweat, and Rude's hands were slipping a little around Reno's wrists, so slid his hands up and around the redhead's chest, jerking his body upright without breaking rhythm so Reno was also on his knees, his back pressed to Rude's chest.

Reno cried out again as Rude's cock hit his prostate from a new angle, his body going limp so the only things holding him up were Rude's strong arms. His head lolled back onto Rude's shoulder, the long red strands of his hair sticking to their sweaty bodies.

"Quiet down a little," Rude managed to murmur in Reno's ear before turning his head a little and muffling the cries a little with his tongue and lips. Rude knew his neighbors were most likely already irritated from how the bedframe was thumping against the wall, and Reno's loud moans would just piss them off more.

"I can't," Reno whimpered, writhing in his grip and reaching back to clutch at Rude's hips, trying to pull him closer. Breathing hard, Rude slowed his thrusts a little until he was stroking into Reno with long, languid motions. Even so, he put all his strength behind them, so the breath was driven from Reno's lungs with each thrust, but somehow the redhead managed to keep letting out loud cries of pleasure. "Fuck, baby, you're too good," Reno choked out, his back arching a little.

Rude kissed the back of his neck, catching his breath as he slowly ran his hand down Reno's sweaty, lean chest to trace the thin trail of reddish hair that led to his groin. He grasped Reno's erection, admiring how it felt in his calloused hand; it was like velvet-covered steel, the tip slowly dribbling fluid. Reno's whole body jerked as Rude slid his hand over it. "Oh, fuck, Rude, I'm gonna come, oh, Shiva, I'm gonna  _fucking_  come—!" His back arched in a beautiful curve, his head thrown back on Rude's shoulder, and Rude saw his lips part and hastily clapped his free hand over Reno's mouth.

"Come for me," he ordered in a growl. Reno's answering scream was as muffled as it could be, but it still reverberated throughout the room, and Rude knew his neighbors were hating him right then, but he couldn't bring himself to care as Reno's cock bucked in his hand and for the second time that night the redhead came hard, spilling over Rude's fingers onto the rumpled bedspread.

Rude gasped at the familiar sensation of Reno clenching around his erection and sank his teeth into his partner's shoulder to muffle his own cry as Reno's body closed tight around him. He thrust hard one last time, trembling as his own orgasm thundered through him, sapping his limbs of strength as he released into the condom. They collapsed onto the bed, tangled together, and Rude had enough sense left to pull his hand free from Reno's mouth so he wouldn't panic, but it took all the energy he had. Luckily, Reno seemed content to lie half under Rude, his whole body still quivering from the force of his release.

Gradually, Rude shifted a little to the side so he could pull off the condom and throw it away, then turned back to Reno, who was still lying on his back, his chest heaving and his eyes closed. Rude slid an arm around his waist and pulled him close, kissing the spot right underneath his ear and making Reno mewl a little.

When Reno was able to move again, he opened his eyes, looking up into Rude's oddly worried dark ones.

"Too rough?" the big man asked, stroking his calloused fingers over Reno's hip and stomach.

Reno raised an eyebrow. "You're joking, right?" He shifted into a better position and winced a little at the burning in his nether regions. "I mean, yeah, I'll be sore as fuck for a bit, but who wouldn't after getting hammered like that?" He grinned. "Trust me, partner, I woulda slugged you in the nose if I hadn't wanted it."

The corner of Rude's mouth turned up in a little smile and he leaned in to fasten their lips together, his hand creeping up Reno's chest until he could feel the redhead's heart fluttering under his hand. The kiss was just a clumsy press of lips, both of them too tapped out to do much more.

"You're sure everything was okay?"

Reno wiped sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes. "As long as you're not actively puttin' your hand around my neck, I'm down to try whatever in bed, partner. Quit worryin'." The redhead grinned. "Like I said, I'd letcha know loud and clear if you ever did anything I didn't like." He ran a hand over Rude's sweaty, cum-stained chest, grimacing a little at the cooling bodily fluids.

"That mean I get to cuff you next time?" Rude asked in a low voice, a smirk curling his lips as Reno slowly got off the bed, his legs still shaking a little, and disappeared into the bathroom. He returned a minute later with a damp cloth and leaned over Rude, wiping his chest clean before leaning in and flicking one of his nipple rings with his tongue.

"Depends on how you play your cards," the redhead purred, but the idea had him shivering anew. He finished cleaning them both up and tossed the cloth in the laundry basket before curling up to Rude, head on his chest. He yawned, deciding there was time for a quick nap before dinner, and felt Rude's lips against the top of his head.

"I love you," the bigger man murmured, much as he had the first time they had made love, and Reno smiled a little, the tender caress of his calloused fingers over Rude's abdominal muscles more than enough of a reply.


	15. Chapter 15

 

“I have something for you.” Tseng was facing the window in his office, hands clasped behind his back.

Reno perked up. “Outside Edge?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” Tseng said immediately, and Reno wilted a little. “Remember Reiss Leventhal?”

“Oh yeah…whatever happened to him?” Reno asked, furrowing his brows.

“He’s still here,” Tseng said mildly. “Down in the basement holding cells.”

Reno and Rude listened to his instructions and in a few minutes Reno was jabbing the B2 button on the elevator. The doors closed and he immediately latched onto Rude, nuzzling his neck roughly.

“Reno,” Rude growled, his voice irritated. “We’re at work. You didn’t get enough last night?”

Reno pulled back and grinned at him. “You’re seriously asking _me_ that?”

“Good point,” Rude grumbled. “Still. Get your paws off of me.”

“Aww, but you like my paws.”

Rude pushed him away gently, straightening his tie. “I’m still not getting it on in an elevator, especially right before we beat the hell out of this guy.”

“You’re no fuckin’ fun, partner,” Reno sighed, but he backed off, leaning against the wall of the elevator during the long ride down. “I hate it down here,” he muttered as they descended. “Feels like the whole damn building’s ’bout to fall on my head.”

“So you’d rather be out among nature, with trees, open skies, and bugs?” Only the amused tilt of Rude’s mouth betrayed his teasing, and Reno glared. Growing up in Midgar below the plate meant that he hadn’t even seen a tree until he’d joined the Turks, and the countryside still made him weirdly nervous.

“Give me the city, all dirty and grimy and familiar,” he sighed. “Just not the parts underground.”

“You might like the outdoors if you gave it a chance,” Rude pointed out, still amused at Reno’s discomfort. He could still remember the first time a mosquito had bitten Reno, and the redhead had thrown a fit, insisting he was dying. The pollution had been so thick in Midgar that for miles around there was a dead zone that the bugs and animals knew to stay out of.

“Yuck,” Reno said with a dismissive shudder. “I’ll go where Tseng and Rufus send me, but that don’t mean I enjoy it.”

“Except the beach?”

“Except the beach.” Reno raked his eyes over Rude’s clothed body with a smirk.

The elevator doors dinged and their conversation petered out as they stepped into the gloomy basement. Shabby doors lined the hallway, giving the impression of some type of dormitory, but the Turks knew better. These were holding cells, which more often than not became tombs. They reached Leventhal’s cell and Reno flashed his ID at the guard, who nodded and moved to unlock the door.

Reiss Leventhal had mostly recovered from his last bout of torture under the hands of Reno and Rude. His bruises had faded and Tseng had allowed a doctor to set his fingers, though there wasn’t anything they could do about the eye Reno had ruined. The ragged eyelid covered the damaged orb, giving Leventhal a crazed, creepy look.

He was still a far cry from the slick, well-dressed man at the charity gala. Now, his skin was pale from lack of sunlight and a dark beard shadowed his face.

“Hey,” Reno cried, greeting him like an old friend, and the man looked up. His wrists were cuffed, attached to chains that were bolted into the wall, so he had some freedom of movement, but not much.

“You,” Leventhal groaned out, flinching away like he’d seen a ghost.

“Aww, that ain’t no way to greet a friend,” Reno said with a grin, crouching in front of him. He gripped the trembling chin in one hand, grimacing at the feel of greasy facial hair. “Look at me,” he said, voice dangerously soft. Leventhal obeyed, his eye wide and panicked, and Reno patted his face with his free hand firmly. “Good boy,” the redhead purred. “Now, let’s get down to business, yeah?”

“What do you _want_?” Leventhal croaked. “I told you everything I know!”

Reno sat back on his heels. “You never told us how you’re connected, bud. Your ex-SOLDIERs are dead, and we need to know if someone else was pulling the strings.”

Leventhal’s head jerked up. “That’s impossible!”

“Oh, it’s possible, all right,” Reno shot back. “And it happened. Now sing, canary, or I’ll make you sorry.” His voice had deepened to a growl.

The man in front of him was quivering a little, and Rude was a little startled to see a tear work its way down his cheek from his good eye. “They’re all dead?” he asked, sounding choked.

“Dead as doornails,” Reno said without expression, studying his face. His right hand was twitching a little. “Now tell me.”

Now Leventhal’s shoulders were shaking harder with sobs, and he looked so pathetic that Rude almost felt sorry for him, but he still hung back, waiting for any signals from Reno.

 Reno’s eyes flashed with anger and his fist shot out, bloodying Leventhal’s nose. “Quit blubbering and talk,” he snarled, and the pain seemed to snap the other man out of his crying fit.

“H-how do I know you’re not lying?” Leventhal asked, his voice still tight with sorrow.

Reno flashed him a sharp smile, all white teeth and fury. “You know, you’re not really in a position to make demands, but I’m feeling…charitable today.” He beckoned to Rude, who reached into his blazer and withdrew the photos that Tseng had given him, handing them over. Reno spread them on the ground one by one, watching closely for a reaction.

Some of the figures in the photographs were burned beyond facial recognition—the product of Reno’s incendiary grenade—but the deformities were still clear, and the Turks glimpsed a flash of panic in Leventhal’s remaining eye as he studied the pictures.

“Believe me now?” Reno asked sharply, and the man swallowed, nodding. More tears streaked his face.

“That was my son,” Leventhal croaked out, motioning with his manacled hands at one of the burned ex-SOLDIERs.

Reno felt Rude shift a little behind him, and guessed the admission struck a bit close to home for his quiet partner, but when he looked back, Rude’s face was expressionless, like always. The redhead turned back to Leventhal.

“You were tryin’ to avenge your son’s treatment by Shinra?” he confirmed. “And so you bankrolled a terrorist organization?” The tone of his voice was almost disbelieving.

“I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand,” the chained man spit back.

Reno leaned in, a cruel smile tilting his lips. “Maybe not,” he said, voice low and deadly. “After all, I was the one who did your boy in.”

Leventhal looked up at him, warring expressions of sorrow and fury on his face.

Reno grinned even more wickedly. “Oh, yeah, it was me. I remember that one pretty clearly.” He nodded at the photo. “I dug a buck knife into his throat and cut it wide open, and ya know why?” The redhead leaned closer, his smile turning into a snarl. “Because your boy fucked with my bosses, and he fucked with my partner, and if you fuck with my partner, you fuck with me. And _no one_ fucks with me!” His voice rose steadily in volume and the last part was shouted into Leventhal’s face as the man slowly seemed to collapse in on himself.

Reno stepped back with a little snort. “You’re fucking pathetic. No wonder your son went down so easily, choking on coward’s blood.”

Leventhal’s head snapped up and he launched himself at Reno with a yell, reaching for him with his chained hands. Taken by surprise, both Reno and Rude were slow to react, and the redhead stumbled back as Reiss Leventhal’s cuffed hands closed tight around his throat. Reno’s vision flashed white, then red, then black as the other man squeezed, and his whole body started trembling, struggling against a flood of memories and panic. He heard Leventhal shouting something, but the words wouldn’t form in his mind; they were just endless sounds he couldn’t make sense of. His writhing managed to throw off the hands on his throat, but Reno was still shaking and again, didn’t have time to react as the crazed man’s teeth tore into the side of his neck.

Rude had recognized the look on Leventhal’s face as he leapt for Reno, because he’d had that same look so many years ago when he’d killed his first man. It was the look of someone who had nothing left to lose, and Rude was uncharacteristically frozen to the spot, only snapping out of it when Reno’s cry of pain ripped through the air and saw blood spurting around Leventhal’s lips as the man was sinking his teeth into his lover’s throat.

Reno was struggling with Leventhal for only about three seconds when there was a loud bang and spray of blood that wasn’t Reno’s, and the chained man unlatched from his neck, falling to the ground with a gaping hole in the side of his head. Reno staggered back, shoving down his panic and trying to slow his breathing as his heart hammered in his chest. His vision was blurry and it took some effort to focus on Rude, who was standing with his gun in an outstretched hand, the barrel faintly smoking. The big man looked pale under his bronze skin, and Reno started forward, only to jump as more shots rang out. Leventhal’s dead body jerked with the impact, and Rude’s jaw was clenched as he emptied the clip into it, finally lowering his arm when the gun clicked dully at him.

Reno pressed a hand to his bleeding neck and stepped forward again hesitantly. “Rude?” he questioned, trying to look through the shades into his partner’s eyes. Rude was still expressionless, but his whole body was quivering a little. “Give me the gun,” Reno said softly, laying a hand on Rude’s arm. The bigger Turk jumped a little as Reno’s fingers slid down his arm, tugging the gun from his grip. “You okay, man?” Reno asked, still looking at him searchingly. It was the closest to losing control he’d ever seen his partner, and frankly, it scared him a little. Rude was always so solid, and now he looked almost worse than Reno felt, which was saying a lot, considering how Reno had just been strangled.

Rude let out a long breath. “I’m fine,” he answered, forcing his voice not to shake. “Your neck.” He reached towards Reno’s throat, but the redhead predictably flinched and Rude let his hand fall. “Is it deep?”

Pulling his hand free, Reno moved closer and bared the injured spot. “Don’t think so. How’s it look?”

From what Rude could tell without touching the wound, Leventhal had bitten Reno on the thick muscle of his neck, avoiding the main arteries. It bled sluggishly, but not alarmingly. “Might have a funny-looking scar,” Rude affirmed. “But it doesn’t look too bad.”

Reno looked down at the bloody carcass of Leventhal, riddled with bullet holes, and sighed. “We fucked up. I didn’t think he had balls like that.”

“You did not need to rile him up like that,” Rude snapped through gritted teeth.

Reno raised an eyebrow. “You got somethin’ to say, partner? You ain’t never questioned my methods before.”

Rude looked away and shook his head. “It just…” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly a little. “It scared me a little,” he finished, the tense line of his shoulders daring Reno to poke fun at him. “When he attacked you.”

Reno was quiet for a minute, looking almost guilty. “Join the club,” he said finally. “Now you know how I felt, when they took you.”

“Is that what this was about?” Rude bit out. “Revenge? I didn’t mean to get myself captured, you know. I thought we were over this.” He shook his head a little and pulled the door open. “I’m gonna go make a report to Tseng. You should get cleaned up.”

Reno opened his mouth to say something, but Rude was already gone, leaving him with the dead body and a panicked guard who wouldn’t stop babbling.

“Just cool it, man,” Reno snapped at the young guard. “You ain’t gonna be punished, okay? It’s on us." He left the body and rode the elevator back up to his office’s floor, making a beeline to the bathroom so he could check out his neck in the mirror. It was throbbing painfully and he could still feel blood trickling down into his collar.

He reached the bathroom and leaned over one of the sinks, pressing a finger to the bite on his neck. It oozed a little and Reno grimaced, dampening some paper towels and holding them to the wound. The redhead turned to lean against the sink, his gut twisting a little as he remembered the look on Rude’s face. Reno sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. He hadn’t even realized until Rude brought it up that he still somewhat blamed his lover for getting captured, but now it seemed painfully clear in every word he had said to Leventhal. He knew Rude wasn’t overly affected by what he had said to Leventhal about his son—Rude might have lost a child, but he was still a Turk, and he’d known most of Reno’s jibes had been necessary. But he had been right about Reno not needing to push him as far as he had, and that knowledge stung Reno’s pride viciously.

“Goddamn it all,” Reno spat through gritted teeth, unsure if he was angrier at himself or his partner. He sponged blood from the gouge on his throat and then pulled out his flask, splashing some of the alcohol in it on the wound. It stung like Leviathan’s bite, but Reno just gritted his teeth, more inclined to put up with pain than deal with whatever nastiness was possibly in Leventhal’s mouth.  

Although he wasn’t in a hurry to face Rude again, Reno reluctantly made his way to Tseng’s office and knocked.

“Come in,” Tseng called, and Reno stepped inside, acknowledging Rude with a flick of his eyes and then nodding to Tseng. “Need a medic?” Tseng asked, nodding to his throat.

“Nah, it’s not bad. Just bled a lot,” Reno answered. “Rude fill ya in?”

Tseng nodded. “From what he tells me, I’m confident that we know everything about his involvement with SOLDIER-X.” The Wutaiian man frowned a little, leaning back in his chair. “I understand the necessity of his death. Only one things worries me.”

“What’s that?” Reno asked curiously, happy he wasn’t about to be punished even more.

“Rude says he was shouting about something as he attacked you. Something bound for revenge on the entire Planet, but more specifically, Shinra.”

“Huh?” Reno remembered Leventhal shouting, but he couldn’t recall any words. “About what?”

Tseng’s dark eye were impassive. “Something called Deepground.”


End file.
